The contracted Survival Flight plane that crashed into Lake Michigan in 2007 was the topic of a National Transportation Safety Board briefing in Washington D.C. this morning.

The June 2007 crash into Lake Michigan killed all six people aboard - two pilots and four members of an organ transplant team headed back Willow Run Airport.

Among issues covered were pilot competency, FAA oversight and oversight by the University of Michigan's Survival Flight program.

When discussing safety issues, NTSB board member Malcolm Brenner mentioned U-M had contracted with Marlin Air for 19 years prior to the accident. But in the last three years of its contract, medical crews began complaining to the university about safety issues related to the operator, including maintenance-related flight cancellations.

It doesn't appear the university ever contacted the FAA about those complaints, Brenner said.

The board also touched on what the FAA and the company didn't appear to do to ensure proper training and qualifications of the two pilots flying the aircraft.

U-M terminated its contract with Belleville-based Marlin Air, Inc. six weeks after the jet on an organ transportation flight crashed into Lake Michigan near Milwaukee, Wisc., in June 2007, killing two Marlin Air pilots and four university employees.

U-M later settled a lawsuit with the company, which had sued for wrongful termination of its contract with the university.

A live Web cast of the discussion about the crash was planned to resume at 11:30 a.m.

Tina Reed covers health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at tinareed@annarbor.com or find her on Twitter @TreedinAA.