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Mechanical issue may be cause of fiery crash
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Randy Foster/editor@cherokeescout.com Emergency responders assemble beside the burning wreckage of a Velocity airplane that crashed shortly after takeoff from Western Carolina Regional Airport on Saturday. -
Randy Foster/editor@cherokeescout.com A fragment from the fatal airplane crash that occurred between Andrews and Marble on Saturday morning. -
Luke Williams/Contributing Photographer Wreckage burns moments after a single-engine airplane crashed after takeoff from Western Carolina Regional Airport. -
he Velocity brand, single-engine kit airplane took off from Western Carolina Regional Airport around 10:30 a.m. Saturday. It flew about a mile while losing altitude, crashing into a clump of trees off a pasture near Fairview Road. From the flight path, it appears the pilot – an elite U.S. Army helicopter pilot – was struggling to circle back to land at the airport.
Andrews – Preliminary reports indicate mechanical failure as the cause of a kit-built airplane crash that took the life of a Fort Campbell, Ky., Army helicopter pilot on Saturday morning.
The…