The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on the plane crash last month that claimed the lives of a Hartwell couple in Wyoming.
Charles “Charly” and Kelli Taylor Schell died when the 1979 Cessna P210N single-engine plane they were in crashed July 14 under unknown circumstances in the Bighorn National Forest near Buffalo, Wyo.
Pilot Charly Schell, who was a U.S. Army aviator, flying Apache helicopters, F-16s, and other aircraft from 1991 to 2003, was the chief executive officer of Bison Advisors and founder/chief strategist for Armis Advisers in Hartwell, and formerly was co-founder and served as chairman of Forge Consulting in Hartwell for almost 16 years.
The Schells took off from Powell, Wyo., around noon local time and crashed about 15 miles from Buffalo, Wyo., where they were scheduled to land.
The NTSB report states the crash was reported just after 12:30 p.m.
Recorded Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast date showed the plane ascended to 17,450 feet mean sea level.
“The airplane remained at that altitude for about 9 minutes, 17 seconds until it descended to 15,400 feet msl for about 12 seconds,” the NTSB report states. “The data showed that about 2 seconds later, the airplane ascended to 15,400 feet msl for about 12 seconds, which was followed by a descent to 14,500 feet msl for the last 4 seconds of recorded ADS-B data. The last recorded ADS-B target was located about 0.46 miles northwest of the accident site.”
Weather at the time was roughly 89 degrees and clear, with visibility of 10 miles.
The 30-yard by 50-yard accident site was at roughly 8,300 feet msl, nearly 6,200 feet below the last recorded altitude 4 seconds earlier.
Wreckage was mostly consumed by fire, the report states. There are no known witnesses to the accident sequence.
In addition to being the owner and general manager of Cateechee Conference Center in Hartwell, Kelli Schell was chairman of the board of Toughest Kids, a charity the Schells founded to help children going through adverse circumstances.
Charly Schell was chief executive officer of Bison Advisors, an investment advisory firm located in Hartwell. He founded Bison Advisors and Armis Advisers after leaving Forge Consulting, which he co-founded in 2003.
The Schells both graduated from North Georgia College, now the University of North Georgia.
The plane was registered to Armis Advisers LLC of Hartwell.
