Yesterday morning a six-seat Beech aircraft crashed into a small wooded area on Plank Rd approximately one mile west of Route 29 South, killing two adult white males, according to Albemarle County spokesperson Lee Catlin.
An anonymous 911 phone call from someone in earshot of the crash came in around 11:30a.m., Catlin said.
According to a county news release, "officials have a high degree of confidence in the identity of the victims," however, their identities will not be released until out-of-state kin are notified.
Catlin said the weather in the area at the time of the accident was rainy and overcast with a low ceiling of visibility, but it remains unclear whether weather was a factor in the accident.
When local police and firefighters arrived on scene, the plane was fully engulfed in flames, she said.
Local resident Marty Sanchez, who witnessed the accident, said she "saw a column of smoke come straight up" shortly after she heard three loud booms.
Catlin said that the plane's destination and point of origin remains unknown.
Sanchez noted a farm less than half a mile away owns a plane hangar with a private landing strip.
David Dorrier, another local resident, said he had seen a plane flying on Monday, which landed on the private farm's runway.
He described the plane he saw on Monday as being small, similar to the size of a Cessna plane.
Catlin said it remains unconfirmed whether or not the plane was headed toward the private landing strip.
According to Stewart Wright, Permit Planner at Albemarle County Department of Community Development, the land where the plane crashed is owned by Edge Valley Preservation, LLC, which also owns the surrounding land, including where the landing strip is located. However, Susan Payne, acting as a spokesperson for Edge Valley Preservation, LLC said the land where the plane crashed was not owned by the company.
Virginia State Police and the National Trasnportation Safety Board "will be continuing this investigation for some time to determine the cause of the plane crash," Catlin said.
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