Andrews — Authorities are investigating the cause of an airplane crash that claimed the lives of two people.
A man and wife, whose names have been withheld pending positive identification, were pronounced dead at the scene Monday afternoon following a search that spanned several hours.
The couple was reportedly headed from Liberty, Tx., to Maine when they stopped at Western Carolina Regional Airport to refuel around 5 p.m. Sunday. Officials say the couple fueled their plane and chatted with other aviators before resuming their trip.
According to publicly available flight tracking data, the couple received clearance to leave Western Carolina Regional Airport around 7:40 p.m. They had planned to stop in Lancaster, Pa., before traveling the last leg of the journey.
Around 9 p.m. Sunday, staff from the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center contacted Cherokee County about a missing plane that was transmitting a distress signal in the forest between Andrews and Robbinsville. U.S. Air Force personnel also joined the search, using radar and satellites to pinpoint the exact location of the plane’s emergency locator transmitter.
Officials paused the search around 2:30 a.m. and resumed during daylight hours Monday, finding the plane wreckage on the Cherokee County side of the Nantahala National Forest around 11:30 a.m. Members of the U.S. Forest Service used bulldozers to clear trees and create roads so rescue and recovery personnel could reach the wreck site.
A preliminary investigation revealed the couple departed Western Carolina Regional Airport headed east and crashed into a mountain moments later. Authorities believe the couple was unfamiliar with the terrain in this area and did not know that it is recommended to head toward Murphy when departing the local airport under low visibility conditions.