Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp said the name of the pilot was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

He said sheriff's office deputies and state Highway Patrol troopers were awaiting the arrival of officials from the Federal Aviation Administration which would do a full investigation.

The crash occurred around 10:30 a.m. in a field off Andrew Hale Road, a road which dead ends to a farm path. The state Highway Patrol and sheriff's office had further access to the crash site blocked off.

Ralph Johnson, manager of the Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport, about five to seven miles from the crash site, said the airport was notified the plane was supposed to land in Rocky Mount but had not arrived.

Johnson said Washington Center, an air traffic control center in the District of Columbia, notified him they had lost contact with the plane, a high-wing Cessna 182.

Johnson and a partner flew from the airport using Civil Air Patrol techniques to search for the plane, which had apparently developed engine trouble.

They spotted the plane in a field. It was upside down, east of Interstate 95.

Communication with the pilot indicated he was going to turn around and attempt to land at the Halifax-Northampton airport.

Johnson said this is the first private aircraft fatality he recalls in Halifax County in his 28 years of flying.