A Cessna that crashed during takeoff at the North Little Rock Municipal Airport on Thursday, killing a man, was piloted by an Air National Guardsman seeking the highest-level pilot's license, officials said Friday.
A report released by the North Little Rock police Friday identifies the man killed as 56-year-old Doyle G. Reynolds of Jefferson and the pilot as Daniel Shure, 30, of Benton, Wash.
Reynolds was an examiner along for the pilot's "check ride," the final test in the process of receiving an air transportation pilot's license from the Federal Aviation Administration, said airport Director Clay Rogers.
Shure reportedly walked away from the crash and was taken to a local hospital in unknown condition Thursday.
An Air Force spokesman at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville said in an email that the pilot was an Air National Guardsman.
"As far as we know, he is currently not performing Guard duties and has no affiliation with Little Rock Air Force Base," the spokesman said, referring additional questions to the airport.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Administration arrived on the scene around 8:30 a.m. Friday.
An NTSB spokesman in Washington, D.C., said the on-scene team led by investigator Todd Fox will remain in North Little Rock through Sunday documenting the path of debris, taking photographs and speaking with witnesses.
The NTSB said that the pilot attempted to return to the airport shortly after takeoff because of an unspecified mechanical problem but landed short of the runway, just missing the water tanks located at the Central Arkansas Water building.
Both the plane's engines and propellers will be taken to examine whether they functioned properly, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said.
A preliminary accident report will take about two weeks to be released, Knudson said, but investigators are unlikely to speculate on the cause of the accident until the release of a full report, which takes about a year.
Harry Barrett, the owner of Barrett Aviation at the North Little Rock airport, said Reynolds was known to people who worked at the airport for years, though it had been a while since he was known to do "check rides" there.
"ATP is like the doctorate of aviation," Barrett said, referring to the certification the pilot was seeking at the time of the crash. The certification is required to become a commercial airline pilot.
A Cessna 310 sitting in Barrett's shop, which he said was similar to the 1961 model that crashed, was about the size of a small truck and sat six, with room for two at the controls.
Barrett said he had heard from another witness that the airplane dipped to the left before crashing, indicating trouble with one of the engines.
"Those airplanes are kept up and the mechanics inspected every year; in this case, every 100 hours," Barrett said. "It was a very capable aircraft."
At the airport's administration office, Rogers said the pilots who regularly fly at the airport were taking the accident in stride. It was the first fatality in his five years as director, he said.
"Pilots and the people that love aviation know the risks," Rogers said. "That thrill is part of the appeal."
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.