Orchid Island man, Max Gysin, dies in crash of his single-engine plane

A high-performance single-engine turboprop flown by its owner, Max Gysin of Orchid Island and Georgia, crashed and burst into flames on July 15th while trying to land at McCollum Airport about 20 miles from Atlanta, according to local officials.

Gysin, who was the only person aboard the French-built Socata TBM 700 plane, was killed, officials said. The plane was registered to Flying Max, LLC, which Florida records show was a company formed by Gysin.

Gysin was returning from Vero Beach to his home in Kennesaw, GA, after checking on a motel he owned in Albany, GA, at the time of the crash, according to his wife Jean.

The plane was on final approach to land at McCollum Field, located in Kennesaw, when it plunged into woods adjacent to a residential area about a half-mile short of the runway, according to Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services.

The plane "did a nosedive," Dennel Boyd, public information officer for the Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "There's not much left of the plane. It was fortunate it landed where it landed."

Gysin's wife said he had gone to Vero Beach over the weekend to pick up the plane, where it had undergone a 400-hour inspection.

"I can't picture him making a mistake. He was a very good pilot," she said.