It happened in Castalia, in the area of Taylor Store Road and Highway 58, around 6:30 p.m.
The Castalia Volunteer Fire Department was the staging area, as a State Highway Patrol helicopter with night vision flew over what investigators on the ground believe could have been a crash scene.
Four people claimed they saw a plane in distress at the intersection of West Castalia and Duke Road.
The Nash County fire marshals say one eyewitness said they saw the aircraft circling with smoke that appeared to be coming from the engine. They apparently saw it go down in the wooded area behind their home.
A second 911 caller, who also claimed they saw a plane possibly go down, described a different location, and several others say they heard and saw the plane before the crash.
"Couple people along the road here -- an eyewitness said they saw a plane, but didn't actually witness it go down. But they thought they heard some cracking -- something of that nature. So we've got some credible evidence that there's possibly a plane crash. We've put ground crews -- we have ground crews out now on foot and ATVs searching the area. But from what we're seeing on mapping is that possibly a portion of the area is going to be very thick, wooded swamp area," said Chris Bissette, Nash County Deputy Fire Marshal.
Late Friday night, a fifth eyewitness with an aviation background told authorities that he saw a double engine plane in the area. It is possible a double engine plane can land safely on one engine.
It is also possible the plane experienced distress, but never crashed. Interestingly enough all the nearby municipal airports say all the planes that flew Friday are accounted for.
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