An aviation accident on June 24 may have been partly due to the advanced age of the pilot and flight instructor, who were 88 and 81, respectively, an investigation into the accident has concluded.

In landing at Haifa Airport, the light plane hit the runway late and at too high a speed, and therefore couldn’t stop in time.

Consequently, it taxied right off the end of the runway, falling several meters onto a sandstone ridge. The accident totaled the plane but remarkably left the occupants unscathed.

The Transportation Ministry’s investigation, whose findings were released yesterday, attributed the accident to human error.

It didn’t conclude that the ages of the pilot and instructor were definite contributory factors, but it also said it couldn’t “completely rule out” this possibility.

While faulting the pilot for the late landing, excessive speed and belated braking, the report also faulted the instructor for telling the pilot not to circle before landing and for waiting too long to take over the controls.

In addition, it said that both pilots had failed to comply with the conditions attached to their licenses, and therefore, it’s doubtful that they were actually entitled to make the flight.

The report reiterated recommendations made after several previous similar accidents, such as implementing a computerized system to track whether pilots are complying with the requirements for maintaining their licenses.