Pilot attempted to avoid turtle on runway before deadly NC plane crash, NTSB report says

MOCKSVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) – The pilot of a plane that crashed in North Carolina earlier this month had attempted to avoid a turtle on the runway just before the deadly accident, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

On June 3, a Stinson 108 Voyager carrying a pilot and two passengers crashed at Sugar Valley Airport in Mocksville. The pilot and one passenger were fatally injured; the other passenger suffered serious injuries.

Earlier findings from the NTSB indicated that the crash occurred during a go-around.

“A go-around would be an attempt to land … then break off the landing and turn it into a takeoff and just continue flying up the runway to try again or go somewhere else,” Robert Katz, a commercial pilot and flight instructor, explained.

In its latest preliminary report, the NTSB said a UNICOM operator informed the pilot of a turtle on the runway during the maneuver, causing the pilot to lift "the right main wheel." Another witness, doing landscaping work at the airport, had also seen the turtle.

"A man cutting the grass at the end of runway 2 reported that he saw the turtle on the runway and the pilot raised the right wheel to avoid the turtle. After that, the wings began to rock back and forth. Then the airplane took off again, but he lost [sight] of the airplane when it passed behind a hangar," the report reads.

"The airplane disappeared just over the trees on the northeast side of the runway and then he heard a loud crash and saw smoke."

The pilot and a passenger were killed when the plane crashed into a "heavily forested area" about 250 feet away from the runway, sparking a fire.

The plane, parts of which were melted or destroyed by fire, was collected for the investigation.

Justyn Araya DeBusk and Celeste Smith of Nexstar's WGHP contributed to this report.