By Jonathan Friedman
Associate Editor

March 11, 2015 -- A preliminary report posted Tuesday on the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) website says power failure caused actor Harrison Ford to crash his plane shortly after it took off from Santa Monica Airport Friday afternoon.

Ford, the only person in the World War II-era single-engine plane, was “seriously injured” in the crash at Penmar Golf Club in Venice, according to the report. 

The plane “sustained substantial damage” to both wings and the fuselage.

“The pilot advised of an engine failure and requested an immediate return to the airport,” the report states. 

It continues, “The pilot initiated a left turn back towards the airport; the airplane subsequently struck the top of a tall tree prior to impacting the ground in an open area of a golf course, about 800 feet southwest of the approach end of Runway 3.”

The report stresses that it is only preliminary and could contain errors.

“Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed,” the report states. 

It continues, “NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.”

Because of Ford’s notoriety, the crash has received substantial media coverage nationwide and even in several foreign countries. It has also added to the controversial conversation about Santa Monica Airport on a local, national and regional level.

This is the first major crash involving Santa Monica Airport since September 2013.

The 2013 crash featured a Cessna Citation carrying four people, including the pilot, that collided with the storage hangar, causing the plane and the building to explode in flames. 

All four people aboard were killed.

Two other fatal plane crashes involving Santa Monica Airport have taken place in the past five years.

A Westchester resident, who was the only person aboard a single-engine Cessna 210, crashed two blocks from Olympic and Westwood boulevards in August 2012. 

That crash took place three miles northeast of Santa Monica Airport, and authorities said the person was returning to the facility.

A Los Angeles resident was killed in July 2010 when a small plane he was piloting crashed into Penmar Golf Club. Authorities said he had been practicing landings.