A flashlight lodged in the tail section of a small aircraft may have contributed to the fatal crash that killed a flight instructor and his student last month, according to a preliminary report issued Wednesday from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Greg Green, 36, and Eric Schultz, 15, both died in the Jan. 23 accident in Waxahachie. Green, of Fort Worth, was an instructor for the Claude R. Platte Future Pilots Program in Dallas. Schultz was a student at Dunbar High School in Fort Worth.

The Tecnam Sierra two-seater took off from Dallas Executive Airport about 11:39 a.m. and crashed just before noon. Witnesses reported seeing the plane nosedive in an "uncontrollable spin," according to the report.

The instructor had accumulated about 1,170 total flight hours. Schultz had 3 hours, according to investigators. It remained still unclear who was flying the plane.