Small Plane Crash Results In 2 Fatalities

Two people died Saturday night after a small plane crashed in Covington, Georgia.

The single-engine aircraft took off around 11 p.m. from Covington Municipal Airport and lost communication shortly after takeoff.

“The Covington Police Department found the plane in the woods north of the runway,” FOX 5 Atlanta noted.

The cause of the crash is currently unknown.

The two victims who died in a plane crash near the Covington Municipal Airport Saturday night have been identified. https://t.co/uzOEGYsB9E

— FOX 5 Atlanta (@FOX5Atlanta) February 17, 2025

FOX 5 Atlanta reports:

The FAA said there was no further communication from the small aircraft shortly after takeoff.

At 11:21 p.m., the Covington Police Department responded to the airport. By 11:40 p.m., the plane was found in the woods just north of the runway.

The coroner has identified the victims as James and Janet Hardee of Covington.

The Rockwell Commander is a single-engine American aircraft with four seats.

2 Dead After Small Plane Loses Communication and Crashes After Takeoff in Georgia https://t.co/8QQiUDROYz

— People (@people) February 18, 2025

BREAKING NEWS: 2 dead in small plane crash at metro Atlanta airporthttps://t.co/fdEKFvhVPu

— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) February 16, 2025

Per Newsweek:

The Covington Police Department said that a single-engine aircraft had taken off from the Covington Municipal Airport at approximately 11:21 p.m. on Saturday.

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The airport lost communication with the aircraft around 20 minutes later. Officers then located the crashed plane in woods near to the runway.

Two people were in the plane, who were pronounced dead at the scene.

Covington Municipal Airport, is located to the east of downtown Atlanta and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the primary hub of Delta Air Lines, which handled more than 750,000 aircraft operations in 2024.

In April 2022, a Cessna 340 aircraft which took off from Covington Municipal Airport crashed into a storage yard near to a General Mills’ Covington plant. The plane crashed around half a mile from the runway of the Covington Airport.

Both people on board the aircraft, a private pilot and a student pilot, were killed in the crash. No one on the ground was injured.

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