A Commemorative Air Force World War II trainer, a Fairchild PT-26 Cornell, struck a tree and crashed at Peach State Airport near Williamson, Ga., June 16. The crash killed the pilot, James Ford of Marietta, Ga., and passenger Robert Lang, also of Marietta.
Ford and Lang both were CAF members. Ford was a retired Delta Airlines pilot with more than 20,000 hours logged. He was an instructor and a check pilot in the PT-26. Lang was a flight and safety systems engineer for Lockheed Martin and an Air Force veteran who had flown F-105s and F-4s. He was also a flight instructor for the Lockheed Martin Flying Club.
The FAA and the NTSB are investigating the accident.