Officials Struggle To Determine Cause Of Fatal Louisiana Plane Crash

Determining the cause of the plane crash in Louisiana on Saturday that killed five people will likely be a difficult and slow process, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

No distress call was sent from the doomed plane, and the lack of a flight data recorder and the poor condition of the wreckage are combining to make the job a complicated one.

"The avionics equipment on board the aircraft was pretty badly damaged," NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said at a press conference Sunday. "There is no flight data recorder that we know of at this time. We’ll obviously be looking at that, but at this point there’s not a lot to go on."

Landsberg said the lack of a flight data recorder "complicates the job tremendously." "The wreckage is in pretty tough shape," he continued. "Between impact damage and fire damage, there’s not a lot to work with."