Victims of plane that crashed after leaving Columbia identified
Authorities have identified the Texas businessmen who died in a plane crash in Georgia after taking off from the Columbia Metropolitan Airport earlier this week.
The victims in the crash were Gordon Hall, 63 of Martindale, Texas; Donald Grieb, 67 of Houston, Texas; and Chris Weber, 65 of Missouri City, Texas, according to the coroner’s office in Oconee County, Georgia.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash, according to the Oconee coroner’s office.
No further details were immediately available.
The men died Tuesday in the crash of their small plane. Rescuers attempted to pull the men from the aircraft, which was engulfed in flames when they arrived, but they were unable to do so because of the blaze and damage to the plane, The State reported this past week.
A spokeswoman for the the Columbia Metropolitan Airport said the plane took off from South Carolina’s capital city around 3 or 3:15 p.m., about an hour and a half before the crash. The plane was destined for the Tuscaloosa National Airport in Alabama. The plane was a Piper PA-46, a propeller-nosed, single-engine aircraft that can carry up to five passengers and a pilot, Atlanta TV news station 11 Alive reported.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 7:21 PM.
