LOVELL – An amphibious plane’s landing wheels weren’t properly retracted through its floats when it crashed on Kezar Lake on Aug. 4, 2007, according to a federal report issued Thursday.

The pilot, Joseph Solari, 68, of Fryeburg was killed in the wreck. His passengers, a family of four, escaped. One, a 5-year-old, suffered serious injuries.

The National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating the crash since it happened. On Thursday, the NTSB issued a report on its findings of fact. It won’t issue its findings on the cause of the crash for another month.

Solari had the blood pressure drug Metoprolol and traces of quinine in his blood, according to toxicology findings, but NTSB investigator Ralph Wilson said from Atlanta, Ga., that the drugs “were not an issue” in the crash.

The report states that witnesses who saw it land said that when the Cessna amphibious float plane touched down on the water, it immediately bounced and nosed over.

Passengers Kevin and Beth Lamberson of North Yarmouth said, “they felt like it skipped and immediately went over on the nose in a somersault,” the report states.

“The cabin filled with water immediately and it got dark and quiet,” the NTSB report stated.

Kevin Lamberson, who was seated beside Solari, kicked out the windshield while his wife, who was seated behind her husband and holding their 3-year-old son Kyle, escaped out the plane’s rear emergency exit.

After surfacing, the couple realized their 5-year-old daughter Lauren, who was seated behind Solari, as well as the pilot had not gotten out of the plane.

Almost immediately, rescuers began arriving in boats. One dove to get Solari and the girl, but couldn’t unbuckle the seat belts, the report states. He returned to the surface. Beth Lamberson, who knew how to release the seat belt, donned the goggles, dove into the lake, and rescued her daughter.

Several attempts to rescue Solari were unsuccessful, the report stated.

The Lambersons’ daughter suffered serious injury, while the couple and their son suffered minor injuries.

Solari died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck and drowning, according to an autopsy performed on Solari three days later by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta.

Prior to the 10 a.m. crash, the report states that Solari had met the Lambersons at a family outing and offered to take them on a sightseeing flight around the area that day.

Solari was chairman of the Eastern Slopes Regional Airport Authority, which leases the Fryeburg-owned airport. He was also a former Fryeburg Planning Board member.

The couple told investigators that prior to taking off from a private airstrip at 9:45 a.m. in Fryeburg, Solari gave them “a very good briefing on emergency evacuation procedures.” The takeoff and flight were uneventful.

The report states that Solari’s most recent medical certificate revealed he had accumulated 2,717 hours of total civilian flight time.