Two Atlanta area men were killed in a plane crashed near Tara Field in Henry County, local authorities said Tuesday.
The plane crashed in the woods in Hampton around 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. The plane was registered to Desert Sand Aircraft Leasing Co. of Carson City, Nev.
The two people aboard, 37-year-old Bryan Hedrick of Roswell and 48-year-old Oriel Roberts of Hampton, both died in the crash. Hedrick was piloting the plane.
The aircraft was used for skydiving. It was based in Texas and was at Tara Field for maintenance, workers told AM 750 and now 95.5 FM News/Talk WSB.
National Aerotech Aviation was the company that did maintenance work on the plane, WSB Radio is reporting. The company is an FAA approved Part 145 Certified Repair Station, according to its website.
Workers told WSB Radio that Hedrick and Roberts, who was employed by National Aerotech, were flying the plane and doing short, routine post-maintenance flight runs. They then were going to fly to a practice area near Tara Field and continue test runs there.
It was during that last run that the plane crashed, workers told WSB Radio. It went down within seconds after taking off, WSB Radio said.
The incident happened in the area of Fortson Road and Lower Woolsey Road, according to dispatchers.
Workers told WSB Radio there’s no immediate indication on what brought the plane down. The FAA and NTSB were headed to the site Tuesday afternoon; it may take months for an official report that has the cause of the crash.
The aircraft was upside down in a tree, Bergen said.
The plane, a twin-engine Dehavilland DHC-6-100, went down near the runway at Tara Field. The aircraft was nose to the ground with the tail leaning on a pine tree. Its left wing was folded back parallel to the rest of the aircraft. The right wing was off and on the ground, twisted, about 20 feet from the plane.
According to the website airport-data.com, the plane was built in 1967 and seats 23.
Tara Field, while near Hampton in Henry County, is owned by Clayton County.
About 100 planes are based at the field. Most are single-engine planes, although a few jets are based at the airport, which is adjacent to Atlanta Motor Speedway.
According to airnav.com, the airport averaged 115 take-offs and landings a day in 2009.
Return to ajc.com for updates.
--Reporters Rhonda Cook, Mike Morris and Alexis Stevens contributed to this report.
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