TIPTON COUNTY, Tenn. — One person is dead after a plane crashed near a Covington airport, Tipton County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office has identified Lance Hooley, 58, as the pilot who died in the crash.
Deputies said the plane crashed 2,000 yards from the Covington Municipal Airport. It was a single passenger plane.
According to the Justin Hanson, mayor of Covington, the crash happened around 5 p.m.
Hanson said the Tennessee Emergency Management Association and the FAA were notified.
The FAA is at the scene and has taken over the investigation.
The plane Hooley was flying was a Jet Eze a homebuilt aircraft known as a kit plane.
Hooley had recently published two articles about the process of making his Jet Eze at Kitplanes.com a kit plane magazine in May and June.
In the article in May Hooley said he had his first solo flight at the age of 16 in 1976.
Hooley writes that it took him 11 years of active building to finish the plane.
“I build for the challenge,” Hooley said. “If anybody could do it, everybody would.”
The National Transportation Safety Board will determine the probable cause of the accident.