A Marion County couple was killed Wednesday after crashing their single-engine plane near their home in the Love's Landing Aviation Community in the Weirsdale area.

The plane, a fixed-wing, single-engine Beech aircraft, went down around 9:30 a.m., crashing between two homes off Southeast 155th Avenue, just north of Love Field.

The pilot, Dauphin Rich Womack, and his wife, Merry K. Womack, were pronounced dead at the scene. Both were 78.


(via Facebook)

Investigators said the plane crashed during takeoff. No one saw the plane go down, but neighbors said they heard the crash.

Hunter Rice said he was inside his home when he heard what sounded like an explosion.

"I started running out there, and I saw the plane was on fire," Rice explained. "So, I grabbed a fire extinguisher and started helping out as much as I can. Two other people were over there with me with a watering hose."

Firefighters said by the time they arrived and put out the fire, the couple was dead.

"The debris field does not span that large of an area," said Capt. James Lucas, with the Marion County Sheriff's Office. "There are two wings; there's a bunch of debris that's burned up in a pile."


(Marion Co. Fire Rescue)

According to property records, the Womacks were both experienced pilots who moved to Love's Landing in 2014. The community has a private airstrip which ends close to where the couple's 1961 Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza aircraft crashed.

"They usually land and fly from over there all the time, and usually they are really experienced," Rice said. "No one would ever think they'd ever crash over here."

The National Transportation Safety Board arrived Wednesday and planned to be back out at the scene Thursday, along with manufacturers of the plane and engine, to investigate what could have caused the crash.


(Marion Co. Fire Rescue)