OCEANA COUNTY, Mich. — Federal aviation officials said investigators had begun the painstaking process of determining what caused a small aircraft to crash in a remote area of Oceana County Friday.
The plane, a single-engine Cessna 210C according to FAA records, crashed shortly after takeoff from the Oceana County Airport.
Emergency workers responded to the scene, approximately a mile from the airport just after 6 p.m. Friday evening.
The National Transportation Board said it wasn't aware of any preliminary conclusions as the investigation into what occurred got underway Monday.
The agency listed the plane's tail number as N3659Y.
Investigators identified the pilot as 56-year-old Raymond Gundy and the passenger, as 48-year-old Troy Caris, both of Muskegon County.
The two were the plane's sole occupants and both died in the crash, police said.
An FAA registry showed Gundy, a licensed pilot, was one of the plane's co-owners.
Nicki Stovall, a neighbor, said she was in the kitchen preparing dinner when hearing the engine fail. "One of my two daughters actually saw the plane go past our living room windows."
Stovall was quick to grab her shoes, running out of her basement door toward where she thought it had landed. "I thought it was right here in our backyard."
The plane had, in reality, crashed just across the street from Stovall's home.
"I've never seen anything like it," Stovall added.
An NTSB spokesperson said the agency would likely make available a preliminary report--detailing the investigation's findings--within the next several weeks.
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