(AP) SANFORD, N.C. A family of four from North Carolina, including two school-age children, perished in a tiny plane crash while returning from Florida.
The scene of Monday’s collision, which occurred in a field next to some trees northeast of Sanford, North Carolina, was visited by a National Transportation Safety Board crash investigator on Tuesday.
Travis and Candace Buchanan, both 35; Aubrey Buchanan, 10; and Walker Buchanan, 9 were recognized by the state Highway Patrol as the deceased. According to a news statement from the patrol, three of the four people died at the scene, and the fourth was declared dead at a hospital.
The Cirrus SR22T plane crashed at around 1:30 p.m., according to an NTSB official, and no one survived. According to data from the Federal Aviation Administration, the owner of the aircraft is Travis Buchanan of Sanford.
According to NTSB crash investigator Ryan Enders, the jet left Merritt Island at approximately 11 a.m. Monday and was en route to the Raleigh Executive Jetport outside of Sanford, which is roughly one mile from the scene of the disaster. Forty miles southwest of Raleigh is Sanford.
Enders claimed that while the aircraft was between five and six miles from the airport, it alerted a Jetport flight services operator to the loss of communications and navigational systems. The aircraft reported engine problems shortly after, he claimed.
In the end, the aircraft wreckage will be retrieved and sent to a facility for additional assessment. According to Enders, a preliminary report on the crash will be released in roughly three weeks, and a complete study will be released in roughly eighteen months.
The family owns Sanford’s Buchanan Farms, according to WRAL-TV. Abraham Garcia claimed that he had been Travis Buchanan’s employee at the farms for over eight years and that he was always there to help. He mentioned that the Buchanan family was returning from the beach.
Travis and Candace Buchanan are the parents of Aubrey, who will be in fifth grade this year, and Walker, who will be in fourth grade next year, according to a Facebook post from Grace Christian School in Sanford.
Referencing the school’s moniker, the statement stated, “We share the news of the passing of one of our Crusader Families with heavy hearts.” We are united in our support of each other and their families at this extremely trying time.
