The Latest on a deadly plane crash in western Georgia (all times local):
8 p.m.
Authorities say a flight instructor, her student and a third person died when two single-engine planes collided at a small airport in western Georgia.
Capt. Jeff Richards with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office identified two of those who died Wednesday in the crash at West Georgia Regional Airport as: 24-year-old Taylor Nicole Stone of East Ridge, Tennessee, and 79-year-old William Lewis Lindsey of College Park.
Richards said Stone was a flight instructor. Richards said the identity of the third person, who was Stone’s student and was in the plane with her, was being withheld until his family can be notified.
Carroll County Fire Chief Scott Blue says a pilot who saw the crash from the air told authorities it appeared that both planes were attempting to land simultaneously “and one came on top of the other.” However, Blue said investigators have not confirmed those details.
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7:30 p.m.
Authorities have released the names of two of the three people who died when two single-engine planes collided at a small airport in western Georgia.
Capt. Jeff Richards with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office identified two of the dead as: 24-year-old Taylor Nicole Stone of East Ridge, Tennessee, and 79-year-old William Lewis Lindsey of College Park.
Stone and Lindsey and a third person died in the crash Wednesday just off the runway at West Georgia Regional Airport. Richards said the identity of the third person, an adult male, is being withheld until his family can be notified.
Carroll County Fire Chief Scott Blue says a pilot who saw the crash from the air told authorities it appeared that both planes were attempting to land simultaneously “and one came on top of the other.” However, Blue said investigators have not confirmed those details.
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3:55 p.m.
A coroner says two men and one woman died when two single-engine planes collided at a small airport in western Georgia.
Carroll County Chief Deputy Coroner Ed Baskin said the woman and a man were in one of the planes and a second man was alone in the other plane. All three died in the Wednesday crash just off the runway at West Georgia Regional Airport.
Baskin said they wouldn’t immediately release the names of the three who died because they were still working to notify family members.
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2:10 p.m.
A fire chief says two single-engine planes may have been trying to land at the same time when they collided at a small airport in western Georgia.
Carroll County Fire Chief Scott Blue confirmed in phone interview that three people died in the Wednesday crash just off the runway at West Georgia Regional Airport.
Blue says a pilot who saw the crash from the air told authorities it appeared that both planes were attempting to land simultaneously “and one came on top of the other.” However, Blue said investigators have not confirmed those details.
The fire chief said wreckage from the planes was so mixed together that first responders initially thought the debris all belonged to a single aircraft.
Blue says authorities have not yet identified those who died.
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12:20 p.m.
Federal officials say the midair collision of two small aircraft caused a deadly plane crash in western Georgia.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that two single-engine planes collided over the West Georgia Regional Airport. The crash happened just before 11 a.m. Wednesday in Carroll County, about 45 miles west of Atlanta.
WSB-TV reports (http://2wsb.tv/2casnZl ) Bud Benefield, a deputy fire chief for Carroll County, confirmed three people died in the crash.
The FAA says it’s investigating the crash.
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11:50 a.m.
A fire official says three people are dead following a plane crash near a small airport in western Georgia.
WSB-TV reports (http://2wsb.tv/2casnZl ) Bud Benefield, a deputy fire chief for Carroll County, confirmed the crash happened Wednesday near West Georgia Regional Airport. The county is located about 45 miles west of Atlanta.
