NATCHEZ &8212; The plane carrying three locals may have stalled shortly before it crashed near a Texas airport, the Waco Tribune-Herald is reporting.

The Waco newspaper quoted an unnamed source Saturday who said the air traffic controller at the Waco airport tower noticed the Cessna 310 was lower than the regular glide slope needed to take it to the runway.

The crash killed pilot Justin Cardneaux, Barr Brown and Jerry Roberts.

&8220;He was really slow on approach and he had his gear down, which slowed him even more,&8221; the source told the Tribune-Herald. &8220;The controller told him he was below his glide path, and (the pilot) responded by pulling the plane&8217;s nose up, which caused it to go into a stall.

&8220;It really rattled that controller. He tries to get the pilot to correct his approach, but then the plane goes down and he sees a mushroom of fire and smoke.&8221;

The plane caught on fire after it crashed around 7:30 p.m. last Sunday. It took off from the Natchez-Adams County Airport earlier that day. Brown and Roberts were headed to a business meeting.

The National Transportation Safety Board handled on scene investigations Monday and Tuesday, and has said they will be posting a factual report soon. No report has been released yet.

Any report on the cause of the crash wouldn&8217;t come until six months to a year from now, an NTSB investigator said earlier this week.

The plane&8217;s last reported speed was 59 knots at an altitude of 600 feet as it descended on its approach to the airport, according to FlightAware.com.

Planes can stall when the nose is pointed upwards or they drop below certain speeds.

For this plane, the stall speed would be around 78 knots, Executive Director of the Cessna Plot Association John Frank told the Tribune-Herald. But Frank said several variables could affect the actual airspeed, and cautioned against drawing conclusions without the final NTSB report.

Funeral services for Brown and Roberts were held Friday.

Cardneaux&8217;s funeral will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Laird Funeral Home Union Street Chapel.