Cargo pilot from Cape is killed in crash just after takeoff

Investigators looked over the wreckage from a DeHavilland-6 cargo plane that crashed at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis yesterday, killing a father of two from Marstons Mills. (VINCENT DEWITT FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

A pilot from Marstons Mills was killed yesterday when his cargo plane crashed during takeoff from Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, officials said.

The DeHavilland-6 cargo plane was about 500 feet down the runway when it crashed at 10:03 a.m., said Arlene Salac, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Eyewitnesses reported that the plane was airborne and then rolled to the left before hitting the ground, said Quincy Mosby, airport manager.

Jim Thomforde, president and chief operating officer of Wiggins Airways of Manchester, N.H., identified the pilot as Mark Conway, 43, of Marstons Mills, a village in the town of Barnstable. Conway, a married father of two young daughters, had started working for Wiggins in December.

He flew cargo from Hyannis to Nantucket twice each weekday. He had been a pilot since 1997 and had more than 3,600 hours of flight time, Thomforde said.

He was the only person on the plane, which is owned by Wiggins Airways. FAA and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were headed to Hyannis to investigate, Salac said.

MATT COLLETTE