Overland Park ? Federal transportation officials said a 2005 plane crash that killed five people in an affluent suburban Kansas City neighborhood was caused by the pilot’s failure to maintain adequate altitude.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday a Cessna 421C Golden Eagle III that departed from Johnson County Executive Airport bound for Florida was about 600 pounds overweight when it took off on Jan. 21, 2005.

The NTSB report does not say why the plane was too low, but it does mention that altitude and low cloud cover that morning contributed to the crash.

Witnesses reported seeing the plane climb to about 2,000 feet after takeoff. Then its nose and right wing dipped, sending the plane hurtling through a street lamp and several trees. The wreckage ended up in the yard of former Kansas City Royals pitcher Jason Grimsley.

The crash left a 600-yard trail of debris, which included body parts of the five victims.

Killed in the crash were Armour D. Stephenson Jr., 49, of Lee’s Summit, Mo.; his wife, Shirley F. Stephenson, 46, of Lee’s Summit; Lewis Bradley Smith, 73, of Kansas City, Mo.; pilot James L. Kingston, 60, of Stilwell; and Kevin W. Holzer, 50, also of Stilwell.

The Stephensons, a husband-and-wife ministry team, were on vacation to Florida and hitched a ride on the flight. The other passengers were on a golfing trip to Florida. Kingston was celebrating his first day of retirement.

The crash was the deadliest in Kansas since 1983, when five people were killed in a crash near Greensburg, according to NTSB records.

Kingston had about 30 years of flying experience at the time of the crash, but records from the NTSB show he had been involved in two other incidents.

In 1996 near St. Petersburg, Fla., an engine on the same model Cessna failed, sending the plane into the ground. Kingston and both passengers left the scene with minor injuries.

The second crash happened in 1999 at the Lee’s Summit Airport, when the right brake locked on a plane, causing it to leave the runway. The plane’s landing gear struck a raised portion of the concrete taxiway, damaging an engine and propeller. No injuries were reported in that incident.