A plane crashed near Daniel Village Thursday morning.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, a single engine plane took off from Daniel Field and was on its way back to the airport when it struck a tree and crashed at a residence on Hillcrest Avenue.
The pilot has been identified as Jason McKenzie, who is being is remembered as a loving husband, father, and son. He was the Associate Director of Philanthropy at Augusta University. Coroner Mark Bowen said McKenzie was the only person killed.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
“The FAA has advised our office that the intersection of Hillcrest Avenue at Belmont Drive will be closed for the next 48 hours,” the sheriff’s office said Thursday morning. “We ask that anyone traveling in this area take alternate routes during this time.”
The NTSB held a press conference Thursday afternoon. Ralph Hicks, senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board out of Atlanta, said preliminary reports show the pilot took off from Daniel Field around 7:12 a.m. Thursday morning.
A post-crash fire consumed much of the cockpit, fuselage and tail section of the 836 Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft, he said.
The pilot logged about 800 hours of flight time last year and was headed to New Haven, Conn., he said.
The NTSB will be on the scene for 24 to 36 hours investigating, which will include removing a section of the aircraft’s left wing from a tree, he said.
A preliminary investigation report will be published at NTSB.gov (https://NTSB.gov) in a few days, he said.
Neighbor Robert Hill said the lights went out while he was drinking coffee, but it didn’t seem unusual. They had to push the garage door open to get his wife to work.
She called soon after about a plane crash, but they hadn’t heard it , Hill said.
“We heard nothing,” he said.
The street, popular with Augusta’s medical community, is home to two or three generations of OB-GYNs, including the family most impacted by the crash, he said.
“Just think how lucky we all are,” Hill said.
