Witnesses said the six-passenger Piper Malibu crashed at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, bursting into flames. No one on the ground was injured, authorities said.
The crash killed Robert E. Bell, Jr., 61, and his wife, Andrea Gilstrap Bell, 58, of Hickory, N.C. Beaufort County Coroner Curt Copeland said autopsies performed Monday in Charleston showed the couple died of multiple injuries sustained from the crash.
The investigation into the cause of the crash was turned over to the National Transportation Safety Board on Monday morning. Paul Schlamm, spokesman for the safety board, said it will be about a week before a preliminary report is posted on the organization's Web site, www.ntsb.gov.
But that report will contain mostly vague initial findings, Schlamm said. It will take several months for a report with much detail to be released, and a final report listing the probable cause of the crash won't be available for six months to a year, he said.
The investigation will be carried out on Hilton Head Island, almost certainly at the airport, for the next few months, Schlamm said.
The plane had departed for Myrtle Beach shortly before the crash and Robert Bell was attempting to get back to the island airport, John Curry, a member of the Beaufort County Aviation Board, said Sunday. It crashed about three-fourths of a mile from the north approach to the airport runway, near the intersection of Dillon and Beach City roads.
The fuel tank had been topped off on Hilton Head, where the Bells are believed to have spent a couple of days. They were not regulars at the airport here, Curry said Sunday.
Curry said he hadn't heard anything new about the crash Monday.
Robert Bell was a native of Kingstree and a graduate of The Citadel. He was a certified public accountant and owned Hickory Brands, specializing in shoe-care products. Andrea Bell was born in Greenville and graduated from Limestone College in Gaffney. She was a former elementary school teacher and owned Jet Kleen Car Wash.
A memorial service for the couple will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Hickory. Visitation will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. today at Bass-Smith Funeral Home in Hickory.
Surviving the couple are two children, Robert E. Bell III of Hickory and Virginia Bell of Surfside Beach; two grandchildren, Robert E. Bell IV and Alexandrea Bell, both of Hickory; Robert Bell's father, Robert E. Bell Sr. of Kingstree; Andrea Bell's parents, Loyce and Mary Ellen Hughes Gilstrap of Easley; and Robert Bell's siblings, Charles Bell of Raleigh, N.C., Lester Bell of Sumter, Julia Bell of Chicago and Joyce Bell of San Francisco.