The pilot of a small, single-engine, “experimental” plane was killed when it crashed in the edge of a field around 3 p.m. Wednesday shortly after taking off from the Statesboro Bulloch County Airport.

As of Thursday afternoon, the pilot, a man who local authorities believed was from out of state and may have been a mechanic on a test flight or delivery trip of the plane, had still not been publicly identified.

The crash occurred in an area off Georgia Highway 24 not far from its intersection with Five Chop Road. It was within sight from another road in that vicinity, Sand Spur Road, but it is a private road not accessible to the public, said Capt. Todd Hutchens of the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office.

“What we understand is the pilot was taking a test flight, was test-flighting this single-engine, single-person plane, and unfortunately the plane went down in the edge of a field, and the pilot actually was killed in the crash,” Hutchens said Wednesday evening.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration arrived Thursday, and the Sheriff’s Office planned to turn the crash site with the wreckage of the very small plane over to them.

“We are going to be securing this area until the FAA and the NTSB show up,” Hutchens had said.

The site appeared to be a little over two miles straight-line distance from the airport, but several miles farther by road.

FAA posts notice

By Thursday morning the FAA had posted a preliminary “accident and incident” notification on its website, at www.asias.faa.gov. It states the aircraft type as “experimental” and the model as an Airshark. The FAA’s initial description of the incident states, “Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances in a field, Statesboro, GA.”

“Experimental” is a designation applied to aircraft built as individual projects, often by hobbyists, and issued a special airworthiness certificate by the FAA.

The plane’s activity type at the time was listed by the FAA as “personal” and the flight phase in which the crash occurred as “takeoff.” The pilot fatality was noted.

Although the plane was severely damaged on impact, and noted as “destroyed” by the FAA, there was no fire. In addition to sheriff’s personnel, units from the Bulloch County Fire Department and Emergency Medical Service had responded to the call.

The FAA notice listed a later time, which may be when the agency was notified. But the tri-county 911 system hosted by Bulloch County had received an automated crash notification – possibly from the plane itself – at 2:54:11 p.m. Wednesday, said 911 Director Kelly Barnard.

Still no ID Thursday

Bulloch County Coroner Chuck Francis went to the scene and confirmed that the pilot died in the crash. Francis said Wednesday evening he had some idea of the pilot’s identity but had yet to confirm it or notify next of kin. No identification had been found on the deceased man, the coroner said, adding that he had heard a name from someone and a possible city and state of origin.

The body would be transferred to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation lab for autopsy, with a report to go to federal investigators, Francis said.

Contacted again shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday, he noted that the FAA and NTSB were out investigating the crash “and trying to find some confirmed identification.”