CHESAPEAKE, Va. - A small plane crashed Sunday in southern West Virginia,killing three men from the Deep Creek area of Chesapeake.
The single-engine plane went down after taking off from the Fayette Airport in Fayetteville at about 11 a.m. Sunday. When police arrived on scene, they discovered three men inside the plane who had died.
The bodies of 38-year-old Nick Fletcher, 36-year-old Michael Taphouse and 39-year-old Wesley Farley were found inside of the plane.
A former co-worker of Fletcher's says he’s saddened to learn of Fletcher’s death.
"Nick and I worked on some projects through the years. We not only talked about work, but also hobbies and different things. He was just a really nice guy," Chris Pohlad-Thomas said.
Thomas and Fletcher worked together at ABS Technology.
"He just had this larger-than-life personality. He was friendly to everybody. I don’t think there was anyone that he didn’t have an impact on because he was such a friendly person and really wanted to make sure everybody was heard and listened to," Pohlad-Thomas tells News 3 reporter Leondra Head.
A friend of Taphouse says Taphouse’s death comes as a shock to him.
"He didn’t have the opportunity to have a family and do all the stuff we discussed throughout our friendship," Stacey Lane said.
Friends of Taphouse and Fletcher says the two were brothers-in-law.
"I’ve known Michael for probably eight or nine years. He and I began a friendship after we opened up some restaurant concepts for Ruby Tuesday out Manassas, Virginia. He was just an incredible human being, so I was drawn to him immediately," Lane said.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) offered their condolences.
“I’m just terribly sorry for the friends, family and colleagues affected by the lost. It’s a tragedy, and we’ll do our very best,” said Bryan Rayner, an NTSB senior safety investigator.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the NTSB are investigating the plane crash to determine what caused the tragedy.
