GREENVILLE – The National Transportation Safety Board issued its preliminary findings involving an airplane accident on Moosehead Lake on Sept. 7 that caused minor injuries to two men.

Pilot Michael Conaboy, 56, and his passenger, Frederick B. Schick, 52, both of North Kingstown, R.I., received bumps and bruises after the controls of the small plane they were in malfunctioned, causing the plane to go down near Sand Bar Island. The two men were in the water for about 15 minutes before they were rescued.

After the accident, Conaboy told Warden Sgt. Roger Guay of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife that he had been practicing “touch-and-go” maneuvers on the lake when the Cessna 180D amphibian’s controls malfunctioned. The plane pitched to the right, causing the right wing to hit the water. The contact brought the plane down in 40 to 60 feet of water.

According to a Federal Aviation Administration inspector, as the airplane lifted off the lake, the pilot had no aileron control. Ailerons control the aircraft along the longitudinal axis.

The FAA inspector said the airplane rolled to the right, hit the water, and sank to a depth of 60 feet. During an examination of the wreckage, the inspector observed substantial damage to the left and right wings and the fuselage. He also observed that a turnbuckle was separated from the right aileron cable. The turnbuckle was not safety-wired.

The airplane had accumulated about 55 hours of operation since its last annual inspection, during which the aileron control cables were replaced, according to the inspector’s report.

A final written report of the accident will be issued later.