Report: Plane disintegrated after flying into thunderstorm

Preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board indicates the small plane that crashed near Chatsworth, Ga., on July 1 flew into a thunderstorm before it disintegrated, killing all four people onboard.

The NTSB report said the flight started at Moton Field Municipal Airport in Tuskegee, Ala., with a family destined for McMinn County Airport in Athens, Tenn., after a weeklong trip.

Service technicians in Tuskegee reported servicing the plane — a Piper PA-23-250 — and said the pilot, 55-year-old Dexter Lee Gresham, was having difficulty starting the plane. A technician offered the use of an airport vehicle to charge the battery and, after a few hours of charging, they were able to take off.

Others on the plane included Mary Jo Yarbrough, 61, and the Yarbroughs’ grandchildren — Austin Day, 10, and Kinsley Wilson, 10.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the pilot was not receiving radar services, nor was he in communication with air traffic control during the flight. Radar shows a plane consistent with the size of Gresham’s plane heading northeast when it hit a thunderstorm advancing from the northwest.

Witnesses said it wasn’t raining, but thunder could be heard in the distance, and as they watched the storm, they heard a loud boom before seeing pieces of the plane and personal belongings fall out of the clouds around 4:45 p.m.

One of the witnesses reported seeing the plane come “tumbling and spinning” out of the sky. They watched until it was out of view and then called authorities.

The agency concluded the plane “was destroyed during an inflight breakup” and said witnesses were watching a thunderstorm overhead when the crash occurred, according to The Associated Press.

“As they continued to watch the thunderstorm they heard a loud ‘boom’ followed by observing pieces of the airplane and personal belongings falling out of the clouds,” the NTSB report said.

The debris field was about a mile in length, and the first pieces found were fragments of the fuselage. The left engine remained attached to a section of the left wing and the right engine was separated, having landed near the end of the debris path. The fuselage, cockpit, cabin and engines were all destroyed.

“As [the witnesses] continued to watch the thunderstorm they heard a loud ‘boom’ followed by observing pieces of the airplane and personal belongings falling out of the clouds.” – NTSB REPORT