W. Va. man dies in single plane crash in Carroll County
At 2:10 a.m. Sunday (Oct. 7), Virginia State Police were alerted to a missing aircraft that was suspected of having crashed in Carroll County. With the assistance of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the fixed-wing, single-engine 1941 Piper was located off Cemetery Road on Fancy Gap Mountain around 3 a.m.
The pilot, Ralph C. Young, 65, of Fayetteville, W.Va., did not survive the crash. His remains were located with the wreckage. The Office of the Medical Examiner in Roanoke responded to the scene.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Young was making a round-trip flight from a private airstrip in Fayetteville, W.Va. to Elkin, N.C. and back to West Virginia.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Services Coordinator have been assisting state police at the scene, along with the Hillsville and Cana Fire Departments.
The FAA and NTSB are on scene and assisting with the investigation.
October 7, 2018 @ 9:57 pm
3am, thousand feet of elevation change, area prone to fog, aircraft not usually well endowed in instruments, communications and navigation equipment is not a good combination.