The National Transportation Safety Board released a report Tuesday providing new details about a September plane crash in Lincolnton that killed the pilot.
The pilot was identified as 24-year-old Colen Mattison, who was also known as Cole, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office told local news organizations.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, Mattison flew the Cessna 182 on Sept. 22 from Cherokee County Regional Airport in Canton to Barrow County Regional Airport in Winder before heading to his home airport, which is a private field in Lincolnton about two hours east of Atlanta. Three miles south of the private airport, Mattison approached a pond on White Rock Road that’s located on a piece of land owned by his family, the NTSB preliminary accident report indicated.
Witnesses, who were mowing the grass around the pond, told authorities the plane flew low toward them and also "'buzzed the pond’ at an altitude of less than 60 feet above the ground” around 5:10 p.m.
“The airplane then ‘pulled up to normal flying altitude’ and circled in a left turn before it approached the pond a second time,” the report stated.
According to the NTSB, a witness said the plane’s right wing was “almost straight up in the air” as it flew between two groups of trees. Then, the plane hit the ground at the edge of the pond and briefly flew before striking the water again and resting partially submerged.
FAA inspectors said the plane was severely impacted and crushed, according to the report.
“Both wings were separated from the fuselage and sustained leading edge damage,” the report read. “The propeller assembly (both blades and hub) was separated from the flange. One propeller blade was twisted and bent about mid-span, the other blade was slightly bent near the root and slightly twisted near the tip.”
According to Mattison’s tribute page, he graduated from the University of Georgia in May 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.
“He was hired by Lead Edge Design Group as a design engineer just a week after graduation, allowing him to combine his education, his pilot’s license and his love for anything aviation,” his tribute page read.
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Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter
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