Wright Brothers National Memorial to remain closed until Tuesday after plane crash that killed five
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board spent Sunday afternoon making their initial observations of the scene at Wright Brothers National Memorial where a single-engine plane crashed, killing four adults and one child.
But it will be some time before they can say what caused the fiery crash.
A Cirrus SR22 went down in a densely-wooded area between the First Flight Airport runway and Big Kill Devil Hill around 5:18 p.m. on Saturday.
Due to the crash, the National Park Service has closed both the memorial and airport to all access until Tuesday, according to National Park Service Outer Banks Group spokesperson Mike Barber
The identities of the victims have not been released.
NTSB Aviation Accident Investigator Ryan Enders and National Parks of Eastern North Carolina Superintendent David Hallac held a brief news conference Sunday afternoon, but were only able to share a limited amount information.
Enders and several other NTSB personnel arrived at the scene around noon on Sunday to collect physical evidence and photographs of the scene.
“We will be investigating the human, which is the pilot and their qualifications, and the machine, which is the airplane and its airworthiness, and the environment, including the weather, and any air traffic control communications,” Enders said.
“We have a team in (Washington, DC) pulling additional information to help support our ongoing investigation,” Enders said.
The four-seat aircraft, which was built in 2023, was registered to Pantheon Aviation LLC of Franklin, North Carolina.
According to data on an online aircraft tracking app, the plane made multiple flights on Saturday, originally taking off from an airport in Southern Pines at approximately 3:18 p.m. and landing at the airstrip on Ocracoke Island one hour later.
The data shows the plane then left Ocracoke at 4:22 p.m. and landed at Dare County Regional Airport in Manteo at 4:44 p.m.
“This was a multi-leg flight with its most recent departure from the Dare County Regional Airport,” Enders said.
He said the NTSB did not yet have information on the plane’s intended destination.
“The airplane made an initial approach and subsequent takeoff, where it remained in the pattern and made a second approach and landing attempt,” Enders said.
“During the second attempt, the aircraft made a left turn and impacted trees adjacent to the left side of the runway,” Enders said. “The impact resulted in a post-crash fire, and the five occupants sustained fatal injuries.”
Enders said there were no “may day” calls made by radio prior to the crash.
Eyewitness said they saw the plane traveling at a high rate of speed as it traveled over U.S. 158 headed towards the 3,000 feet long, 60 feet wide runway.
A number of residents in the neighborhoods around the memorial said they heard an explosion around the time of the crash.
Hallac said the crash happened after the park had closed, there were few if any visitors inside the gates, and no one was near the airport at the time.
Along with National Park Service Law Enforcement Rangers, personnel from the Kill Devil Hills Fire and Police departments, Kitty Hawk Fire and Police, N.C. Forest Service, Dare County EMS, Dare County Sheriff’s Office and N.C. Highway Patrol all responded to the crash.
“There were dozens of people here yesterday evening,” Hallac said. “They did some incredible work to prevent the fire…from spreading, and we appreciate all of their support.”
No injuries on the ground were reported.
Following the news conference, members of the media were escorted to where the wreckage of the plane is located.
Deep inside the thick grove of maritime forest, with pine trees as tall as 50 feet, was the charred ruins that were difficult to make out as being an aircraft.
This is the first fatal crash in just over 40 years at First Flight Airport, according to the NTSB.
On April 14, 1984, a pair of experimental aircraft took off to fly in formation when a fog bank rolled in suddenly.
One of the pilots, Raymond Brown, Jr., 57, tried to return to the airport. His aircraft stalled out, collided with a tree and crashed. Brown died at the scene.
There have been a number of other crashes and hard landings, some that resulted in injuries, at the runway established in 1928 and runs from northeast to southwest between U.S. 158 and Colington Road.
Air tours and advertisement banner plans used the airport until 2001, when an air tour plane with five people onboard ran into trouble after taking off and had to make an emergency landing on the First Flight Elementary and Middle School athletic fields.
The National Park Service Outer Banks Group oversees three airports along with First Flight. Billy Mitchell Field in Frisco and Ocracoke Airport are located in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Due to the location of the crash, the Park Service has closed the entire Wright Brothers National Memorial property to all access, including those on foot or bike.
The airport also remains closed, with large vinyl Xs placed over the numbers at the end of each runway indicating it is closed to aircraft.
The identity of the victims in Saturday’s crash and their relationship has not been released, with Enders adding that information will come from the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
Enders said it was too early to know if there were any extenuating circumstances that may have been involved in the crash.
Data from the National Weather Service shows there were clear skies around the time of the crash, with winds from the south at 8 mph gusting to 17, air temperature was 82.8 degrees, with 68% humidity, and barometric pressure was steady at 29.84 inches.
And while initial details about the crash will be formally released in a few weeks, it will be some time next year before a cause could be known, if it can be determined by investigators.
“A preliminary report will be published in approximately 10 days, and a factual report will be published in approximately nine to twelve months,” Enders said. “Shortly after that, a probable cause will be released.”
