An elderly couple described as “seasoned pilots” by family perished Thursday after their single-engine plane crashed into a field in Georgia.
Around 2:30 p.m., Robert and Sandra Denton were flying their family plane from Florida when they lost control and crashed in Watkinsville, a town about 8 miles southwest of Athens.
The pair had flown 417 miles and were only 21 miles from their final destination in Winder, Georgia, when they crashed, according to the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff James Hale told the Athens Banner-Herald that the Cessna 177B plane was destroyed on impact.
Because of the extent of the devastation, first responders were unable to ascertain the sort of craft that had crashed.
Robert and Sandra’s family claimed they were “devastated” by the crash and that the pair, aged 76 and 75, were “seasoned pilots.”
“While taken from us far too soon, we find comfort knowing they were together and doing what they loved, flying,” the Denton family said in a statement.
They were “beloved residents” in the Michigan towns of Williamsburg and Clare, as well as The Villages retirement community in Florida.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash’s cause.
Neither agency reacted promptly to The Post’s request for comment.
