Nevada ? A jet engine fire engulfed the wing of an air tanker moments after takeoff, sending the plane rolling into the ground and killing all three members of the aerial firefighting crew, a federal investigator said Tuesday.

The Lockheed P2V-7 aircraft on the way to drop retardant on a California wildfire was between 100 and 300 feet off the ground when it crashed less than 2 miles from the Reno-Stead Airport on Monday evening, said Tom Little, lead investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Little said nothing indicates pilot error played a role in the crash, which brings to 27 the number of deaths in fatal crashes of firefighting air tankers in the U.S. since 1991.