THOMASVILLE — Wreckage from a privately owned plane that crashed in Brooks County Thursday night has been moved to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) facility in Atlanta, where an investigation into the cause of the crash will continue.

Robert Franklin Moreland, 61, Miramar, Fla., the pilot and owner of the Socata single prop aircraft, and a passenger, Michael Villanueva, 44, Boca Raton, Fla., died in the crash. Their bodies were located near the wreckage about one-half mile from Pavo.

The plan was en route from Montgomery, Ala., to Miramar/Perry Airport north of Miami, Fla., said Peggy Kimble, Brooks County Sheriff’s Office public information officer.

The men, who worked for the Seminole Gaming Commission, had been to Montgomery and were returning to Miramar, Kimble said.

The U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center contacted the Brooks sheriff’s office about midnight Thursday about the missing aircraft. By 12:30, Brooks officers were looking for the plane.

“It was so deep in the woods they were not able to see it,” Kimble explained.

Weather conditions prohibited helicopters from searching for the plane, Kimble said, adding that it was raining.

“Everyone was grounded,” she said Tuesday.

The weather cleared Friday, and the search resumed.

A Georgia State Patrol helicopter found the wreckage about 12:20 p.m., Friday. Brooks and Thomas County Sheriffs’ Office personnel reached the crash site about 1 p.m.

“It was in thick woods with creeks,” Kimble said.

The cause of the crash has not been determined, Kimble said.

“According to NTSB, the plane broke apart in midair,” she said, adding that weather might have caused the crash.

The Socata broke up over a half-mile area. It did not catch on fire.

Sydney Turner, Pavo police chief, said that once residents of the town — divided by the Thomas/Brooks County line — heard about the crash, they wanted to find the plane and survivors and help them.

“That was the feelings here,” Turner said Tuesday.