Pilot Killed When Plane Crashes Into Hangar At Bentonville Airport

The pilot of a plane that crashed at Bentonville Municipal Airport Wednesday morning has died.

Police have identified the pilot but are not releasing his name until family has been notified, according to Gene Page with the Bentonville Police Department.

The plane crashed into a hangar just after 9:30 a.m. August 31, 2016 during takeoff, according to CBS affiliate 5NEWS/KFSM in Fort Smith, Arkansas. 

The pilot was the only one on board the six-passenger 1983 Beechcraft A36 Bonanza.

An airport employee said the plane was landing at the same time the 1983 Beechcraft A36 Bonanza was taking off.

“A guy I work with saw the wing go past and said, 'look out' and there was no time to react,” airport employee Brandon Nolker said. “It sounded like a bomb was going off.”

The Federal Aviation Administration will determine the ultimate cause of the crash. An FAA team from Little Rock has been called in to investigate, which is standard procedure when a plane crashes, according to 5NEWS/KFSM.

According to the City of Bentonville website, the municipal airport houses 41 single engine and two multiple engine aircraft. The city owns one enclosed T-hangar with six units and one open T-hangar with five units. There are five private box hangars of various sizes and a sixth enclosed T-hangar with eight units.

Visit KFSM's website for complete coverage of this story.