COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mohammed Ashraf arrived at the Madison County Airport Wednesday afternoon, where his son died.
“The reason I came here is his car is here and I came to get his car and his wallet, that's why I came,” he said.
According to Ohio State Highway Patrol, Athar Ashraf was killed when the Cessna 172 plane he was in crashed.
It happened Tuesday evening at 6:20 p.m. and the plane was on its top when first responders arrived. According to the flight path – the plane took off and landed at the same airport.
“[It’s] something you would expect to see with a student pilot just learning to fly you know low flights, slight turns nothing out of the ordinary,” said Dan Boggs, NTSB air safety investigator.
The FAA and NTSB remained on the scene Wednesday investigating. The airport remained closed for the morning and re-opened late in the afternoon.
The plane is registered to the other occupant, a pilot who also died, Malik Aftab Naseem of Alabama.
“It was a student pilot and a flight instructor,” said Boggs.
Ashraf's father said his son was learning how to fly. He lived in Columbus with his three daughters with a big extended family and many friends.
“Everybody loves him,” Ashraf said.
A funeral is planned for Thursday.
Investigators said they don't know who was in control of the plane when it was trying to land.
📺 10TV+ is available for free on Roku & Amazon Fire TV: Stay up to date on what's happening in your community with a 24/7 live stream and on demand content from 10TV — available on Roku and Amazon Fire TV.