was accumulated during private pilot ….

was accumulated during private pilot checkride,” the report states.

Leinbach was on his way to the New Richmond Regional Airport, located about 120 miles to the west, to meet with an individual interested in buying the airplane — an Earthstar Aircraft Gull 2000, classified as an experimental lightsport airplane.

The prospective buyer had agreed to meet with Leinbach at 6 a.m., though he initially suggested that they meet at noon instead. The individual believed Leinbach wanted to meet sooner because he needed to return to work afterwards, the report says.

A witness near the private airstrip said they saw the plane operating between 4:30 and 5 a.m. and could hear the engine as it departed, but there were no eyewitnesses to the crash itself.

The plane went down in a wooded area about a third of a mile southwest from the end of the airstrip. Damage to the trees suggests that the nose of the plane was tilted 30 degrees downward when it made impact, the report states.

“The airframe parachute rocket had deployed due to impact forces,” the report states. “The left wing had separated during impact. The right wing and tailboom remained attached to the fuselage.”

No signs of mechanical malfunction or failure were found during the investigation, but the aircraft was not equipped for instrument flight, the report states.

Further data may become available.

“The damaged components of an electronic engine monitor and an electronic artificial horizon device were retained for possible data download,” the report concludes.