The woman who was killed while flying a Cessna 152 earlier this month in Volusia County wasn't supposed to be flying solo, according to a preliminary report released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Mihoko Tabata, who was originally from Japan, was killed after the single-engine plane she was flying Jan. 13 crashed into the water in New Smyrna Beach.
According to the report released Wednesday, Tabata rented a block of flight time and the plane from Flight Time Building LLC.
"According to the owner of Flight Time Building, on the day prior to the accident, the pilot flew a local flight with an instructor, followed by a cross country flight with a safety pilot, who was an instructor-in-training," the NTSB report states.
Neil Ramphal, owner of Flight Time Building, said Tabata wasn't "signed off" for solo flight after the flights on Jan. 12, the NTSB report states.
Tabata flew an undetermined number of local, solo flights on the day of the crash without Flight Time Building personnel's knowledge.
Tabata refueled the airplane at her own expense.
A preliminary review of pilot records recovered from the wreckage indicated the pilot had logged about 416 hours of total time as of Jan. 7, 2015.