The plane that Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James was piloting entered a "tightening spiral" before it crashed and killed everyone on board last month , according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

James, 57, was flying his single-engine plane on Sept. 18, when it crashed into a field in Franklin, North Carolina, about 270 miles southeast of Nashville. All three people on board were killed.

James had requested a visual approach to Runway 7, which air traffic control approved, according to the report.

The controller told James to tune his radio to the common traffic advisory frequency, used by pilots to announce their location when there is no air traffic control tower. James never changed the frequency but instead announced he was at 6,800 feet a

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