14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, March 15, 2015 in Reynolds, GA
Aircraft: KOLB MK-II, registration: N193Y
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On March 15, 2015, at 1818 eastern daylight time, an experimental light sport Kolb Twinstar MK-II, N193Y operated by a private individual, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain near Reynolds, Georgia. The student pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight which departed Thomaston-Upson County Airport (OPN), Thomaston, Georgia. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
According to a witness, a few minutes prior to the accident the airplane approached her property and flew two oval shaped patterns over her house. It then proceeded west towards her neighbor's property. Subsequently, the airplane had turned, was heading east, and was in line with the neighbor's driveway. At that time, the airplane had descended to about 150 to 200 feet above ground level, when it suddenly "took a sharp pitch forward and turned right at the same time" and impacted the ground in a nose down attitude. The witness further stated "the engine was running" while the airplane was overhead and they did not hear the engine "sputter or stop."
The wreckage was examined by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector. All major components were accounted for at the accident location. The airplane came to rest in a nose down attitude with the entire length of the wing leading edge resting on the ground. There were no ground scars noted leading to the airplane. Flight control continuity was established from the flight controls to the respective control surfaces. An undermined amount of blue fluid, similar in color to and smell as 100 LL aviation fuel was located throughout the entire fuel system.
Friends say flying was Morrell's passion
The local flying community says losing Wayne Ray Morrell was like losing a brother.
"You can't replace him," says friend and fellow pilot, Terry Davis. "It's going to be tough here."
There's an empty space in hangar 85.
"This flying fraternity just accepted him, and every single one of them loved him," Davis says,
The brotherhood lost one of its members. 52-year-old Wayne Ray Morrell, who went by Ray, was killed Sunday when his plane crashed in Potterville around 4 p.m.
Davis had known Morrell since he was a baby and says he had been flying about three years.
"He had seen that little airplane and just absolutely fell in love," Davis says about Morrell's single-engine experimental aircraft.
Sine then, they had flown together several times.
"Nothing changed this man like aviation," says Davis. "For him, it was a whole new world."
"Where he lives, he's somewhat of a legend," says Pete Pettis, who served as one of Morrell's flying mentors.
Morrell was a mechanic from Reynolds, but had another home at Thomaston Upson County airport, where he would go on weekends to take to the skies.
"Every flight was an adventure," says Pettis, who remembers Morrell's fun and friendly personality.
Pettis says Morrell was taking professional flying lessons. He could fly on his own but still had to have an instructor sign off. Mitch Ellerbee, airport manager, says the regulars formed a tight-knit group.
"Fly together, talk about flying together, go eat together, hang out together," he says. Ellerbee says rising above the loss of Morrell, who was a father and friend, will be hard.
"It's the first time it's happened here to one of our family," he explains.
"I promise you he went from here happy," Davis says.
In the face of tragedy, Davis says Morrell would have never wanted an accident to turn people away from flying.
"He would be the first to say don't quit doing what you love, and he loved this."
Taylor County Coroner, Gary Lowe, says the cause of death was multiple blunt impact injuries. Investigators are still figuring out what caused the crash. Morrell was just a few weeks away from getting his pilot's license.
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