Doctor killed in Guilford County plane crash

The passenger has been identified as Thomas Littlejohn III, of Winston-Salem, a longtime physician and investigator of clinical research trials. 

The name of the pilot who died has not been released. No one on the ground was injured.

Thomas Littlejohn was a physician at Maplewood Family Practice and president of PMG Research, which has offices in Winston-Salem, Wilmington and seven other locations in North Carolina and Tennessee.

"He was flying on company business," his brother, Roger Littlejohn, of Advance, said.

Thomas Littlejohn was a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was married to Margaret Littlejohn and was the father of six children, his brother said.

The cause of the crash of the Beech BE 58 aircraft, operated by Charlotte-based Jet Logistics, remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Agents are looking at many factors, including heavy fog and low visibility.

Jet Logistics is cooperating with the investigation.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said the plane was headed to Winston-Salem but was diverted to Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro due to weather. It clipped one house, then crashed into another on Dairy Point Drive in the Frazier Downs subdivision, about three miles from the airport.

Neighbors said that a father and two children got out of the house safely.

Flight records show that on Wednesday the plane had been flown from Raleigh to Winston-Salem and then to Wilmington before setting off to Winston-Salem again.