NTSB Probes Fatal Walton Plane Crash

MONROE -- A flight instructor and his student pilot were killed Friday when their small Cessna plane broke apart and crashed in a field in northern Walton County, police said.

 

Authorities identified the victims as flight instructor Herbert Lee Entrekin, 35, of Buford and student pilot Robin Leroy Rollins, 65, of Atlanta.

 

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board spent much of the day on the scene and were searching for clues to why the Cessna 172 went down shortly before 11 a.m. The debris field spanned about 200 yards north and south in Campton, Ga. The cabin of the plane came to rest in a horse pasture.

Witnesses said pieces from the single-engine plan rained down from the sky.

"It was just a loud noise," witness Jim Clifton said. "I heard it hit."

"I opened the door and I saw the debris," witness Carey Siegel said. Opened door and saw debris.

The plane took off from Peachtree- Dekalb Airport around 10 a.m. A spokesman for the flight school that employed Entrekin praised his professional skills.

"He was an excellent person," the spokesman said.

Corky Smith, an investigator with the NTSB, said officials would work to determine whether structural failures played a part in the crash. Determine whether it was structural failure.