Witnesses said the incident happened close to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina when the jet landed.
The five persons murdered onboard a single-engine plane that crashed and caught fire at Wright Brothers National Memorial’s First Flight Airport in North Carolina over the weekend have been identified, officials said Tuesday.
According to the National Park Service (NPS), the victims were Shashwat Ajit Adhikari, 31, of Silver Spring, Maryland; Jason Ray Campbell, 43, of Southern Pines, North Carolina; Kate McAllister Neely, 39, of Southern Pines, North Carolina; Matthew Arthur Fassnacht, 44, of Marietta, Georgia; and a 6-year-old child, whose name was withheld.
David Hallac, superintendent of the Outer Banks Group, said in a statement, “National Park Service employees at Wright Brothers National Memorial, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (Outer Banks Group) extend their deepest condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones affected by this tragedy.”
In a forested region close to the airfield, which is situated close to the Outer Banks hamlet of Kill Devil Hills, the Cirrus SR-22 aircraft crashed on Saturday at around five o’clock in the evening.
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Officials stated that witnesses stated the aircraft crashed while trying to land at the airport, starting a fire that ultimately resulted in the plane burning.
The fire was put out with assistance from the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and other nearby fire departments, but no one survived.
According to Stars and Stripes, Campbell was a distinguished lieutenant colonel serving at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, in the U.S. Army’s Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command. He participated in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2006 and had been on active duty for roughly 19 years.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been informed of the incident, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is conducting an investigation.
Ryan Enders, an NTSB investigator, told reporters on Sunday, “We’re here to figure out what happened, why it happened, and how we can prevent it from happening again.”
NTSB intends to issue a preliminary crash report within 10 days, while the whole inquiry into what caused the incident might take between nine months and a year.
According to the NPS, Wilbur and Orville Wright carried out “a series of experiments that three years later resulted in the world’s first heavier than air, powered controlled flight” in the location where the Wright Brothers National Memorial was built.
