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| Pilot Randy Hunter, dead |
BRYAN CO., GA (WTOC) -
The victims in a plane crash near the Bryan-Effingham county line Monday have been identified.
It happened on Croft Road, off of Eldora Road. Couple, William Byron Cocke and Catherine Cocke were killed in the crash.
On Tuesday morning, the pilot was identified as Randy Hunter, from Tyrone, GA.
The dense, wooded area made it difficult for crews to get to the wreckage. Georgia Forestry had to cut a path through the trees.
Air Traffic Control lost contact with the plane with the three aboard - the pilot and two passengers. A Chatham County Mosquito Control aircraft located the wreckage.
According to a WTOC aviation source in communication with the Federal Aviation Administration in Georgia, the plane was going from Savannah to Cobb County, GA when they radioed engine trouble. The plane turned around and was trying to get back to Savannah. The plane was a charter from Peachtree City, GA.
Chief Freddie Howell is asking the public to pray for the victims.
"I also ask that the public pray for these guys and women that went down to search and rescue and remove these occupants from the plane. The rescue people are just as traumatized about a situation like this as the general public is," said Chief Howell, Bryan County Emergency Services.
The Downtown Neighborhood Association released this statement Monday evening:
The Downtown Neighborhood Association is shaken and saddened by the tragic loss of our board member, friends, and neighbors, Catherine and William Byron Cocke. Mr. and Mrs. Cocke have been active in not only the Downtown Neighborhood Association but also countless other civic organizations. The Savannah community has lost a shining light in this beautiful couple and while our hearts are heavy, we ask for prayers for their surviving five children and encourage that the media respect the family's wish for privacy. Our support is unwavering and those closest to the family are committed to helping them in whatever capacity needed in this difficult time.
The Federal Aviation Administration, Bryan County Emergency Services, Effingham County Emergency Management Agency, Chatham County Mosquito Control, Georgia Forestry, and the United States Coast Guard all responded.
The FAA is taking over the investigation. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were on the scene Tuesday morning.
"Luckily, we work well with all of our surrounding jurisdictions, Bryan County included. We have approximately 40 people between Bryan County and Effingham at the moment. We have boats going up and down the Ogeechee River and we also have three aircraft between the Coast Guard and Savannah Mosquito Control," said Effingham County EMA Director Clint Hodges.
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The wife of Randy Hunter, the Tyrone pilot killed while flying a Savannah couple to Cobb County, has shared her thoughts about her husband.
The statement was released on Wednesday by Sanchez Hayes & Associates, a Fayette County law firm, on behalf of wife, Kristen Hunter.
“Randy had a passion for his family and all things related to aviation and loved flying,” the statement reads in part.
Rudjard Hayes, a partner at the firm, said the 39-year-old pilot had two young girls who “are obviously devastated.”
The charter pilot was flying Byron Cocke, a prominent 42-year-old metro Atlanta real estate developer, and his wife 39-year-old Catherine Cocke, an interior designer once featured on HGTV, when the plane crashed Monday morning.
Hayes said Hunter had flown the Cockes on business trips in the past.
A spokeswoman with Byron Cocke’s company, CF Real Estate Services, said the couple had five children.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Cocke family who also lost two beloved and cherished family members in this tragic accident,” the wife’s statement reads.
Soon after Hunter took off, he radioed to air traffic controllers in Savannah saying he was having mechanical trouble and wanted to return before the plane disappeared off the radar at 8:39 a.m., a National Transportation Safety Board investigator told media.
A spokeswoman with the Federal Aviation Agency said the plane was flying to Cobb County International Airport-McCollum Field from Savannah International Airport when it crashed.
Dozens of emergency workers from several local, state and federal agencies responded to the crash site in Bryan County about 150 feet from the Ogeechee River, Freddy Howell, director of emergency services in Bryan, previously said.
He said a Chatham County Mosquito Control helicopter found the downed Beechcraft Bonanza, a fixed-wing single-engine aircraft, about 11:20 a.m. on Monday, nearly two hours after being notified that it had crashed in a marshy wooded area.
“The Hunter family is sincerely grateful to all the first responders in their efforts to locate the aircraft,” the statement said. “We ask for your prayers for the Hunter family as well as the Cocke family as we all try to deal with this tragedy.”
The NTSB will tear apart and inspect the plane, including its engine, to see if there were any malfunctions as part of its investigation.
Date: 28-AUG-2017
Time: 09:00LT
Type:
Beech A36 Bonanza
Owner/operator: Private
Registration: N87RY
C/n / msn: E-2917
Fatalities: Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities: 0
Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: 25 miles W of Savannah, Ellabell, GA -
United States of America Phase: En route
Nature: Private
Departure airport: Savannah
Destination airport: Cobb County
Narrative:
The plane crashed under unknown circumstances. All three occupants, the pilot and two passengers, died in the crash.
Sources:
www.hosted.ap.org
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/officials-plane-headed-for-cobb-county-crashes-in-southeast-ga-killing-all-aboard/468718573
__________________
https://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N87RY
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A final determination of a single-engine plane crash Monday in North Bryan County that killed three people could take up to a year, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
John Brannen, a senior air safety investigator with the federal agency, said he should have a preliminary report done within a week after returning to his Chicago office, but that the final report detailing the probable cause of the crash could take six months to a year.
Killed in the crash were William Cocke, 42, and Catherine Cocke, 39, of Savannah, along with the pilot of the chartered plane that was flying the couple from Savannah to Cobb County. The couple leaves behind five children ranging in age from 10 months to 13 years. The pilot has been identified as Randy Hunter of Tyrone, Ga.
Bryan County Emergency Services Chief Freddy Howell said the FAA contacted his agency around 9:30 a.m. saying the plane was flying at an altitude of about 300 feet before it crashed.
The wreckage of the aircraft was found at 11:18 a.m. when it was spotted by a Coast Guard helicopter. Searchers included Bryan County Emergency Services, Bryan County Sheriff's Office, Effingham County Sheriff's Office and Effingham County Emergency Services. Emergency personnel used ATVs to get to the aircraft. It was located off of Eldora and Croft roads.
Brannen said the last radio contact the pilot had with air traffic control at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport was at 8:39 a.m. Monday when he indicated he was having engine problems and would attempt to return to the airport.
The plane crashed in a heavily wooded area near a cotton field in North Bryan near the Effingham County line. Brannen said he is unsure if the pilot was attempting to land in the field or not.
“We are gathering the voice recordings and radar data right now,” he said. “We’ve also located the maintenance records for the plane.”
Because of the location of the crash, Brannen said a company out of Griffin, Ga., has been contacted to remove the plane.
“We can’t do a whole lot of examination on the scene because of where it’s at,” he said.
Once the plane is extracted, the engine will be sent to the manufacturer’s headquarters in Mobile, Ala., for a thorough examination.
Brannen said the final report will take into account “man, machine and environment,” including whether or not Monday’s high winds and rain from a tropical depression off the coast played a part.
Howell said about 40 to 50 personnel were involved in the search, which included two boats on the Ogeechee River. There was no fire from the crash, so Howell said searchers could not locate it by following black smoke. Some media are reporting that the pilot radioed that he was having engine trouble and that he was attempting to return to Savannah.
Authorities have closed off the area.
"It's very heavily wooded," Howell said. "Georgia Forestry cut a path for us to access the site."
The Bryan County Coroner’s Office arrived at the scene about 12:30 p.m. Monday. Officials said all three occupants of the plane died on impact.
Howell said Hunter, the pilot, owned Hunter Aviation out of Peachtree City. He was chartered to fly to Savannah to take the Cockes to Cobb County. Officials are unsure if Hunter flew the plane to Savannah earlier Monday morning or Sunday.
Howell said the Beechcraft Bonanza plane bearing the tail identification of N87RY was chartered from Falcon Field near Atlanta. Brannen said the plane was manufactured in 1994 and its records will be looked at as well as the pilot’s flight log.
A woman driving a vehicle with a Chatham County license plate showed up at the Bryan County Emergency Services staging site at the Georgia Forestry office on Eldora Road around 1 p.m. Monday. She was visibly upset and crying. Howell later identified her as a nanny for the Cocke family.
Howell asked the public to pray for the victims as well as the first responders involved.
“The rescue people are just as traumatized about a situation like this as the general public is,” Howell said of those who located the crash and found the bodies.