2 killed in plane crash near Siler City Municipal Airport

SILER CITY, N.C. (WTVD) -- An airplane crashed, killing two people in Chatham County on Friday, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

The crash happened near the Siler City Municipal Airport around 12:50 p.m.

Chopper 11 flew over the crash site and noted that it was about 1 mile south-southeast of the airport.

The plane crashed into a wooded area. It appeared charred and mangled.

The Federal Aviation Administration said two people were onboard the plane when it crashed. NCSHP said both of those people died.

The airplane that crashed was a single engine Piper PA-28.

ALSO SEE: A look at plane crashes across central North Carolina this year

ABC11 spoke with Dr. Kuldeep Rawat, Dean for the School of Science, Aviation, Health and Technology at Elizabeth City State University. He said the Piper PA-28 is widely used in flight schools.

"It's a very common, widely used aircraft for training," Rawat said. "It's a safe aircraft."

H said crashes are not common even though there have been more crashes in North Carolina over the past few months.

"Unless we really look into the reasons for each of those crash, whether the reason was inadequate flight training, or whether it's due to a student pilot error, or due to the pilot error, we don't know that," Rawat said.