HOUSTON — Authorities have identified the two people who died after a small airplane crashed into the woods near Barker Reservoir Wednesday night, minutes after taking off from West Houston Airport.
Solomon Babalola, 23, of Katy, was flying the small plane, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The passenger was identified as Apesin Oluwafunmilayo, 20, from Houston.
Babaloloa and Oluwafunmilayo were headed for Pearland, authorities said.
The owner of a flight school in Katy said the Babalola was a student who completed his first solo flight in July. Sharfaraz Ahmed said Babalola was one of didn’t finish his private pilot training course or his check ride to get his license with them.
However, he said Solomon was doing well as a student.
“I hear from the instructors that he had a very promising future to be a good pilot and good aviator. It’s very sad to know he had an accident. All of our thoughts and prayers go to his family and friends,” Ahmed said.
The pair was on board a Piper Cherokee 140 that left the airport just before 8 p.m. Wednesday and weren't believed to be missing until the girlfriend of one of the victims came to the airport on Thursday looking for them.
NTSB confirms agents were at the crash site early afternoon Friday , trying to look through the plane wreckage. Lycoming engines who owned the plane engine also had a crew there.
The aircraft's transponder wasn't working properly, according to an airport manager, and the staff wasn't aware the plane had gone missing.
“The airport went up to look for them. They appeared to find what they thought was debris and local law enforcement was brought out here,” DPS Sgt. Richard Standifer said Thursday.
The National Transportation Safety Board has taken the lead on the investigation into what caused the four-seat Piper Cherokee 140 to crash.
NTSB investigators were on the scene Friday, which is in a wooded area south of the Barker Dam. Crews were met with the challenge of an investigation and cleanup in the thick brush.
“I’m here to tell you the brush is heavy back there, they had to bring in dozers and chainsaws and cut their way through it," Standifer said. "So the only way that you’d be able to see that thing is if it caught on fire, and I don’t see any evidence of it catching on fire to me.”