ASHEBORO, N.C. — The National Transportation Safety Board says it is investigating the crash of a single-engine airplane in central North Carolina.
The agency says the wreckage was located Saturday in Asheboro, about 75 miles northeast of Charlotte. The Randolph County Sheriff's Office in a statement on Facebook said the pilot and single passenger are dead.
The sheriff's office did not immediately release the names of the pilot and passenger.
The sheriff's office says a helicopter with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol found the Piper PA-28 less than five miles from the Asheboro Regional Airport. The plane flying in from Tennessee was reported missing to authorities around 10 p.m. Friday.
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Airport officials and witnesses reported the aircraft flew over the runway and tree line around 8:30 p.m. and didn't return.