MINEOLA, N.Y. — An air traffic controller directed a pilot having trouble with his plane to a landing strip that no longer existed at a closed Long Island airport before the aircraft crashed at a nearby railroad crossing, killing the pilot, according to a preliminary accident report released on Monday.

The pilot, Joseph Milo, 59, of Westhampton Beach, died on Aug. 16 when his single-engine aircraft hit the tracks in Hicksville. A passenger was injured.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the Hawker Beechcraft BE35 had departed from Westhampton Beach, on eastern Long Island, and was headed to Morristown, N.J.

The plane crashed at a crossing between the Hicksville and Bethpage stations of the Long Island Rail Road around 7:45 a.m. The crash happened about eight nautical miles northwest of Republic Airport in East Farmingdale, which was the closest airport at the time, according to the report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board.