Pike airport was checked for downed plane; owner identified, was among victims

Pike sheriff’s deputies checked a local airport Saturday evening as part of a search for a downed aircraft that was later found to have crashed near Senoia, killing two passengers onboard.Using the identification number of the aircraft searched for, the Journal Reporter has determined the identity of its owner, one of the likely victims in the crash.UPDATE: The victims have been identified.Late Saturday evening, Pike deputies were dispatched to Candler Field/Peachstate Airport in Williamson to look for the missing aircraft. The lookout included the small plane’s identification or N number which was N7968Z. The lookout was put in place after family members reported the plane had not arrived at a small airport at Shellman’s Bluff on Georgia’s coast as called for in the flight plan.The plane was not found at the Pike airport.Search pilots took to the air to look for the plane which was eventually located just after 8 p.m. Saturday by pinging the pilot’s cellphone. It was found in a wooded area off Hwy. 85 in Senoia. Neither the pilot nor passenger survived.A search of FAA databases determined the N number was assigned to a 1963 Cessna 150 registered to Albert E. Ensell IV of 223 Twiggs Court in Peachtree City.UPDATE: Ensell, 57, has been conformed as one of the dead. The other is his brother-in-law, 50-year-old Charles Ronald Kephart who has an Alaska driver’s license but has lived for some time in Peachtree City. The flight originated at Peachtree City’s Falcon Field and apparently crashed shortly after takeoff.