Advertisement Ellicott City man, woman killed in small plane crash Plane in Kent Island crash was with flight school Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A plane crash in Queen Anne's County left two people dead Tuesday.The plane crashed around 12:45 p.m. in a field just short of the runway at Bay Bridge Airport, which is just beyond the east side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge at U.S. Route 50 and Maryland Route 8.Maryland State Police said the single-engine plane went down in a field just across the highway from the airport. State police identified the aircraft as a Van's Aircraft RV-12, which, according to the company's website, is a two-seater that can be built from a kit or by a factory.Police said the plane was not on fire in the air, but burst into flames after hitting the ground."It wasn't seconds later that fire trucks came in here, and you could tell, they put foam on it and had it out pretty quickly. And then the sheets came out and that's when the gentleman told me there were some deceased people there," said Mike McCollough, a retired firefighter who witnessed the crash.State police said a man and a woman died in the crash. The victims were identified as Richard Hess, 63, and his friend Janet Metz, 56, both of Ellicott City. Hess was the pilot and Metz was the passenger. Both were pronounced dead at the scene, state police said.The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating a cause of the crash.A flight school that said its aircraft was involved in the crash released a statement about the crash, saying, "An aircraft associated with Chesapeake Sport Pilot was in an accident that resulted in fatalities. We send our sincerest thought and prayers to the friends and family of those involved in this tragedy."At this time, details of the accident are still emerging and we will cooperate fully with the NTSB so they can have a thorough investigation, which will hopefully help prevent this type of horrible accident in the future. Chesapeake Sport Pilot is a close-knit community of individuals who share a passion for aviation and I know we will all grieve this loss for some time. We offer our help and support to all those affected."Refresh wbaltv.com and our app, and watch 11 News for late-breaking updates.22874254Get the WBAL-TV News App