Plane crash: 2 people die in plane crash at Siler City Municipal Airport in Chatham County

SILER CITY, N.C. (WTVD) – According to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, a plane crashed in Chatham County on Friday, killing two people.

The crash occurred around 12:50 p.m. near Siler City Municipal Airport

Helicopter 11 flew over the crash site and found it to be approximately 1 mile south-southeast of the airport.

The plane crashed into a forest. It looked charred and torn to pieces.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), two people were on board at the time of the crash. The NCSHP stated that both people died.

The crashed aircraft was a single-engine Piper PA-28.

SEE ALSO: A look at the plane crashes in central North Carolina this year

ABC11 spoke with Dr. Kuldeep Rawat, dean of the School of Science, Aviation, Health and Technology at Elizabeth City State University. He said the Piper PA-28 is widely used in flight schools.

“It’s a very common and widely used training aircraft,” Rawat said. “It’s a safe aircraft.”

H said accidents are not common, although there have been an increase in accidents in North Carolina in recent months.

“Until we really investigate the reasons for each of these crashes, whether it was due to inadequate flight training or whether it was due to error by the student pilot or the pilot himself, we will not know,” Rawat said.