Plane crashes, pilot dies in Monday evening crash in Etowah County
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were on the scene Tuesday morning after a plane crash in Etowah County that left one person dead.
Pilot Charles Walker Pickering Jr., 65, of Fairhope, died in the crash, according to Dantez Robinson, Etowah County deputy coroner.
Deputies were called to the scene about 6 p.m. Monday after receiving reports of an explosion, according to a news release from the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office.
The plane, a six-seat Piper Saratoga, had crashed on a ridge between Lemons Hollow Road and Rocky Hollow Cutoff Road in an unincorporated area of the county, off U.S. Highway 11 near Steele.
Deputies and personnel from multiple fire departments had to clear a path to the site to fight the resulting fire, according to the release.
Pickering was the only person aboard the plane. According to the Aviation Safety Network and FlightAware websites, he took off at 5:48 p.m. EST from Scott Municipal Airport in Oneida, Tennessee, headed for H.L. Sunny Callahan Airport in Fairhope.
Attalla police; the Attalla, Gadsden, Gallant and Ivalee fire departments; the Gadsden-Etowah Emergency Management Agency; and AMED Ambulance joined the sheriff’s office at the scene.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Plane crash in Etowah County leaves one dead
