LANSING, W.Va. — It may be months before investigators can conclude the cause of a fatal plane crash from Sunday morning in Fayette County. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration were on the ground Monday morning collecting evidence.
“At this point we don’t know what happened. That’s part of our investigation to determine what happened, how it happened, and to prevent it from happening again,” said NTSB Public Information Officer Keith Holloway.
A single-engine Beechcraft C-23 crashed almost immediately after takeoff from the private New River Airport in the community of Lansing. The plane went down near a barn in the middle of a field also in the Lansing community. Three men on board were killed. They were identified soon after the crash as Nick Fletcher, 38, Michael Taphouse, 36, and Wesley Farley, 39.
All three men were from the Chesapeake, Virginia area and were apparently in West Virginia to enjoy a whitewater trip with friends. It’s unclear which of the three victims was the pilot, Holloway did not have the information but said it would be part of their information gathering.
“We have an investigator on scene and documenting the aircraft. We’ll also be requesting any air traffic control communications, radar data, weather reports, and if there are any available witnesses we’ll try to talk to those witnesses,” he said.
The fact finding will take one to three days and a full report on the crash could take more than a year to complete.