photo courtesy of The Metter Advertiser

A fiery airplane crash in Metter claimed the life of the pilot Monday morning shortly after the small plane had taken off from the John Edwin Jones Sr. Field at Metter Municipal Airport.

The Candler County Sheriff’s Office says responding agencies were called to a wooded area on Sycamore Street around 11:15 and came upon a small aircraft that had crashed into a thick wooded area and was on fire. The downed twin-engine plane came to rest near a mobile home park where there are several inhabited units. Witnesses at the scene said they could tell the pilot was fighting to make the plane land in the woods and not the immediate area of the mobile homes.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames, but it was known early in the investigation by local personnel that there was at least one fatality at the scene.

The site of the crash was cordoned off until aviation investigators arrived and Tuesday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration released a preliminary report on the accident revealing that the plane was a Beeach model 95-B55 that had crashed under unknown circumstances just after takeoff. The report says the pilot was the sole occupant in the aircraft. The pilot’s identity is not being released pending positive identification and notification of next of kin.

Flight data shows the plane left Norfolk VA, early Monday morning, and landed in Metter around 10:30 departing from the municipal airport just minutes before the fatal crash.

The FAA, National Transportation Safety Board, and local law enforcement are investigating. The Candler County Sheriff’s Office said updates on the crash would be provided as appropriate and as more information become available.