Authorities on Saturday identified the two victims killed in Friday’s plane crash at Richard B. Russell Regional Airport.
Click here for a video from the crash site.
Lokesh Venkat, 23, of India, was the student pilot flying the plane, and Kwang Yi, 34, of a Duluth address, was the instructor, said Floyd County Chief Deputy Coroner Tony Cooper.
Click here to see photos of students and instructors from the Aviation Atlanta Web site.
Cooper said the two were pronounced dead at the scene at 4:45 p.m. Friday by Deputy Coroner Ernie Studard. Cooper said Venkat’s family has been contacted and plans to fly his body back to India.
National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration officials arrived at the scene to conduct a preliminary investigation into the crash.
Click here for a photo gallery of the crash site.
“At this stage we’re looking for as much factual evidence as we can without making any conclusions,” said Luke Schiada, senior safety investigator of the eastern region of NTSB.
Click here for a previous story about the plane crash.
The results of the preliminary crash investigation will be available in about 10 days, and a more extensive investigation report will be available in about six months, he said.
The twin engine, four-seat Beechcraft BE76 crashed Friday on the southern end of Richard B. Russell Regional Airport just west of Lake Geneva off Godfrey Road.
Click here to view the Aviation Atlanta Web site.
Scotty Hancock, Floyd County Emergency Management Agency director, said the plane was based out of Peachtree-DeKalb Airport.
Hancock also confirmed a small amount of “contraband” was found inside the plane.
“We did find in the pilot’s personal belongings a suspicious substance,” said Cooper. “We have no confirmation that it was illicit.”
Cooper said deaths resulting from a plane crash are treated much the same as in an auto crash.
“The crime lab will do a toxicology test,” said Cooper. “That’s normal in an accident investigation.”
Atlanta Air Recovery removed the plane wreckage Saturday afternoon.
