1 Killed In Oak Hill-Area Plane Crash

Date Added: November 11, 2021 9:57 am

Andrew Gant
Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

1 KILLED IN OAK HILL-AREA PLANE CRASH

The pilot of a small experimental airplane was killed in a crash discovered Wednesday night in the Oak Hill area after hours of searching for the downed plane.

The crash site was discovered shortly after 7 p.m. in the woods about 2 miles northeast of 1340 Maytown Road, Oak Hill.

An initial call reporting a possible plane crash came in shortly before noon in an area north of Blue Ridge Flightpark Airport, but responding deputies didn’t find a downed plane. Deputies canvassed the area and talked to residents, who indicated all of the aircraft stationed in the area were on the ground in their hangar at the time.

Later in the afternoon, around 4:17 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office was notified of an emergency beacon activation from an aircraft earlier in the morning. Deputies conducted a well-being check on the plane’s registered owner and got no answer at the door and found his hangar was empty.

Deputies along with Air One, Edgewater police and members of the Civil Air Patrol searched extensively for the plane until they found the wreckage at 7:11 p.m. in a heavily wooded area.

While the likely identity of the pilot is known, and the Sheriff’s Office has been in contact with family members, positive identification has not been made at this time. Release of his name and official notification of next of kin is pending positive identification.

The FAA and NTSB were notified of the crash and will take over the investigation today.