Pilot dies in plane crash near Spruce Creek Fly-in

PORT ORANGE, FL -- Federal aviation and transportation officials late Sunday were investigating a twin-engine plane crash that killed a pilot shortly after takeoff from Spruce Creek Fly-In, a Volusia County sheriff's spokesman said.

Only one person was in the plane, Frederic S. Gray Jr., 67, and he apparently died on impact, sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught and a witness said. Haught said witnesses told deputies the plane took off about 3:25 p.m. "What happened was the plane had taken off and did a hard bank. It somehow flipped over upside down and did a hard nosedive and crashed into the ground," Haught said.

No one on the ground was injured in the crash, which occurred in a field near Clubhouse Drive and Hawk's Nest Drive, Haught said. The plane was a twin-engine Beech Baron C-55, Haught said. The plane's registered owner is Northwest Jersey Airways Inc., which carries Gray's address at the Spruce Creek Fly-In community, according to the Federal Aviation Authority.

Haught said officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were on their way to the scene Sunday evening. A man working the security house at the entrance to the Spruce Creek Fly-In community said he got to the scene right after the crash and tried to help the pilot, but there was nothing he could do. He declined to give more information.

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Condolences to family and friends.