HENDERSON, Ky. - While the community is still absorbing the shock of a plane crash which killed two people, authorities dropped another bomb shell -- the plane was stolen.

Police said the plane was "believed to have been stolen or its use unauthorized by the registered owner."

Meanwhile, the Henderson County Coroner's Office said the autopsies have been completed and the preliminary cause of death for the plane's occupants is blunt force trauma.

Toxicology results will not be available for roughly six weeks.

The Kentucky State Police said Thursday that the men in the plane -- North Carolina residents Barry A. Hill, 47, and George G. Tucker, 48 -- were flying the plane without permission from its owner.

The Federal Aviation Administration identified the plane's owner as Jonathan P. Byler of Mocksville, North Carolina. The plane is believed to have been taken from somewhere in Davie County, North Carolina, which is home to the city of Mocksville.

Authorities said neither of the men, who occupied the fixed-wing, single-engine Bellenca Viking 17-30A had a pilot's license.

But the FAA said Tucker had a student pilot certificate issued to him in February of 2018. One of the stipulations of that student certificate is that Tucker was prohibited from flying with passengers.

Information on whether Tucker was flying the plane when it crashed was unavailable.

Henderson County Coroner Bruce Farmer said in speaking with Byler, the man said he was trying to sell his plane. He told the coroner's office that at one time, Tucker had test flown the plane while Byler was with him.

However, authorities said on the day the plane crashed, Byler was unaware that anyone had his plane.

According to a website called Flightaware, the last flight of the small plane in which the owner, Byler, filed a flight plan with the FAA and for which he obtained clearance, occurred on Sunday, April 7. Byler flew from Smoketown, Pennsylvania, to Salisbury, North Carolina.

As for the fatal flight involving Hill and Tucker, the Kentuck State Police -- who are leading the investigation -- have not yet released information as to why the North Carolina men were flying in this area in a plane that did not belong to them.

Authorities said the plane crashed sometime Tuesday night after the Henderson airport closed or early Wednesday morning before the airport opened.

Employees of the Henderson City-County Airport saw the wreckage around 7 a.m. Wednesday as they were coming into work.

The airport was closed the rest of the day Wednesday, but has since reopened, according to airport officials.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Farmer said the bodies of the men were found inside the plane. The two had apparently died upon impact.

The plane went down about 75 to 100 yards from the midway point of the runway. Airport officials said the runway is one-mile long.

Emergency Management Director Kenny Garrett said the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board would likely wrap-up the investigation by Thursday afternoon.

KSP's Corey King, Post 16's public information officer, said some of the factors that will be probed, as part of the investigation, include possible mechanical failure, pilot error and whether or not drugs, alcohol or a medical condition may have played a part.

The last fatal plane crash to have occurred at the Henderson City County Airport occurred in April of 2003.

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