CHATSWORTH, Ga. — On the day earlier this month that a Piper PA-23-250 airplane crashed in the Ramhurst area, killing four people, witnesses reported hearing “a loud ‘boom’ followed by observing pieces of the airplane and personal belongings falling out of the clouds,” according to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report.

“According to witnesses, they watched as a thunderstorm approached, it was not raining at the time but they could hear the thunder in the distance,” the report into the July 1 crash said. The crash happened at about 4:44 p.m. The plane “was destroyed during an inflight breakup,” the report said.

After the “boom,” “one of the witnesses stated that they watched as the airplane came ‘tumbling and spinning’ out of the sky. They continued to watch the airplane until it was out of view and then called the local authorities.”

The report notes that during the flight from Tuskegee, Ala., that was headed to Athens, Tenn., the pilot “was not receiving radar services, nor was he in communication with air traffic control while en route or at any time during the accident flight.” The report noted no flight plan was filed.

The pilot, Dexter Lee Gresham, 55, and his wife, Mary Jo Yarbrough, 61, both of Etowah, Tenn., died in the crash along with Yarbrough’s 10-year-old grandchildren Austin Day and Kinsley Wilson.

“Radar data revealed a target consistent with the accident airplane heading northeast when it encountered a boundary of advancing thunderstorms from the northwest,” the report said.

The report states that according to family members, the pilot and his family were returning home after a week-long trip. Gresham’s sister Nina Scott had told the Daily Citizen-News shortly after the crash that the couple had flown to Alabama to pick up the young girl to spend the summer with them. She said the boy had been staying with her brother and his wife for a couple of years.

“The wreckage was scattered over a large area that included very dense vegetation,” the report states. “The debris field was about one mile in length … The first components located along the debris field were fragments of the fuselage. Additional components located along the debris path included fragments of the right and left wing assembly. The left engine remained attached to a section of the left wing assembly and the right engine was separated from the wing and was at the end of the debris path. The fuselage came to rest near the wings. The fuselage, cockpit, cabin section, empennage and engines were destroyed.”

The main fuselage was recovered off of Piney Hill Road.

The report said the pilot had problems starting the engines while in Alabama and eventually a battery charger was used.

“The airplane was towed into a hangar and the charger was connected,” the report said. “The gauge on the charger displayed that the battery would take two hours to charge. The pilot and his family decided to get something to eat while they waited for the battery to charge. When the pilot and his family returned, they boarded the airplane and both engines were started; he taxied to the runway and departed about 1500 (3 p.m.).”