The Habersham County plane crash that killed three men earlier this month was so forceful that the aircraft was "buried four feet below the surface of the ground," according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
No theory about what may have caused the crash was offered, however.
The single-engine Piper Cherokee crashed Nov. 4 in a wooded area near a mobile home park in Baldwin, about 75 miles northeast of Atlanta. All three Florida men on the plane — 58-year-old pilot James Thomas Lycett, 48-year-old passenger Steven Matthew Wisor and 45-year-old Edward Leslie Black — were killed, as were the two dogs on board.
Authorities believe the three men were cousins. Property records showed Lycett also owned a home in Habersham County.
According to the initial NTSB report, obtained Tuesday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the plane was approaching the Habersham County Airport at the end of its journey from an airport in Ft. Pierce, Fla., but was “not receiving radar services, nor was [the pilot] in communication with air traffic control at the time of the accident.”
“Local residents near the airport reported that they heard an airplane flying overhead and shortly afterwards heard a ‘whirling’ noise followed by a loud crash,” the report said. “They came outside to see if they could locate where the noise came from, but [were] unsuccessful due to the heavy fog and mist in the area.”
The plane was ultimately found in a ravine.
“Freshly broken tree branches were observed above the wreckage,” the report said.
No one on the ground was injured.
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