Federal investigators have released their preliminary report on the plane crash which killed four people and shut down portion of Interstate 285 outside Atlanta.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the pilot reported a normal landing at Peachtree-DeKalb Airport on the morning of May 8.

The plane was travelling from Asheville, North Carolina and was on its way to Oxford, Mississippi and stopped for refueling. Two minutes after taking off again, the pilot reported to the tower that he was having trouble climbing. "We're going down here at the intersection," the pilot radioed to the tower.

The single-engine Piper slammed into the dividing wall on I-285 and burst into flames. Killed were 53-year-old pilot Grady "Greg" Byrd III of Asheville, North Carolina, and his sons 27-year-old Christopher Byrd and 26-year-old Phillip Byrd. Christopher Byrd's fiancé, 27-year-old Jackie Kulzer, also died. No one on the ground was injured.

It could be six months to a year before the NTSB releases its final report on the crash.

Tags: ntsb, i-285 plane crash