UPDATE: The NTSB initial report and probable causes are out, the Fayetteville Observer is reporting, and the NTSB is saying that the airplane only had 143 total hours since 1996, that the airplane was out of annual, Kirk’s total flight time was 375 hours, that he was not current, and that the turbo wastegate may have been frozen.

Reporting has confirmed that Kirk’s airplane is down, and that he was the pilot who has died of 3rd degree burns. Our hearts go out to his family. As of yet there’s no good information on the cause, or even if he was on landing or departure. NBC  WRAL report.

Sanford, N.C. — A man who was burned badly in a plane crash near the Raleigh Executive Jetport early Sunday afternoon has died, Sanford police said.

Kirk Aragon, of Apex, was flying an experimental plane – a Velocity RG with tail number N360TV – when it crashed near Breezewood Road, which dead-ends near the end of the jetport’s runway, around 12:45 p.m., police said.

He was flown to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where he died late Sunday evening.

No one else was in the aircraft.

Police said heavy smoke was showing when crews first arrived.

“I heard a loud boom and I thought it was thunder,” said witness Ludella Lindsey. “I looked outside and I saw that smoke was going up in the air, dark smoke.”

Lindsey said she and her sister ran out to the scene and helped pull the burning clothes off Aragon’s body before paramedics arrived.

“He was just begging for help. (My sister) went and got a towel and covered him up because she had to pull his clothes off because he was on fire, all over his arm, his whole body was burning,” she said.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what caused the crash. The Raleigh Executive Jetport was formerly called the Sanford-Lee County Regional Airport.

| FAA | NTSB Final | News 1 |

Posted By: Brett Ferrell
Sunday September 25th, 2011 at 6:45 PM

Categories: Accidents
Tags: 2011 Accident Aragon Fatal FG N360TV NC Sanford SE Velocity