Post Commissioner Hal Echols (Courtesy Paulding Co.)
(Updated: 8pm, 01/01/08)
A twin-engine plane crashed Friday as it tried to land amid low fog at a small airport in northwest North Carolina, killing all six people on board, officials said.
The FAA says all six aboard died, including John Wesley Rakestraw, the owner of the plane and a pilot.
Others aboard the aircraft were identified as Frank Ruggiero, Steve Simpson, Hal Echols, Robert Simpson and Tony Gunter.
The Georgia governor's office says RaKestraw, Simpson and Echols were prominent Georgia Republicans. Rakestraw was the CEO of Blue Sky Airways in Dallas, Georgia, which owned the plane. Steve Simpson was a developer and Echols a county commissioner in Paulding County.
"Gunter worked for Raker Construction, Butler was with the Georgian Bank and Rogerrio worked for the Facility Group," according to Paulding County.com.
The craft was en route from Cedartown, Ga. to Meadows of Dan, Va., officials said.
Stephanie Conner, a Surry County emergency services shift supervisor, said investigators had confirmed there were no survivors. No one on the ground was hurt, said Warren Woodberry, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
(Andy Matthews/AP)
The King Air C90A split in half after falling into a grassy area between two homes near the Mount Airy airport around 11:30 a.m., the Surry County Sheriff's Office said.
The passengers were on their way to Primland, a hunting and golf resort about 25 miles north of the Mount Airy airport.
"The hunting resort van was actually waiting for them, and he was the only person who saw the plane come out of the clouds," according to airport manager Kelvin Boyette.A woman who identified herself as a Primland resort manager but declined to give her name said the company had no comment.
The plane — the only one scheduled to land at Mount Airy on Friday — missed its approach and may have been trying to circle back for another attempt before it crashed, Boyette said.
"There was a really low fog, it was raining a little bit and an occasional sleet pellet. But visibility was more than a 2 1/2 miles," he said.The plane is registered to Blue Sky Airways in Dallas, Ga., according to FAA records. One of the men on board was identified by his cousin, Ronald Rakestraw, as John Rakestraw, a pilot who owned a construction company that had the same address listed on the plane's registration.
(with The Associated Press)
