Floyd Redmond, who died Sunday in a single-engine airplane crash near the North Carolina-South Carolina line, was an experienced pilot and mechanic, his flight instructor said Tuesday.

Jay Vass, who also runs a skydiving school in Live Oak, said he knew Redmond for more than a decade. Redmond, a Tallahasseean who held a commercial pilot's license, flew out of the Suwannee County Airport, Vass said.

Sunday's crash was "very inconsistent with his expertise," Vass said. "Floyd was a great pilot, a great rudder and stick guy. He was excellent. ... That's why I have to believe he was incapacitated; he was not in control of that aircraft."

Coroner Jim Burnett of Spartanburg County, S.C., has tentatively identified Redmond, 49, as the pilot. He said he is waiting for dental records or fingerprints for a final identification; only one person was aboard the plane, he said.

"This was the worst single-engine plane crash I've worked in 16 years," Burnett said. "This plane was completely destroyed."

He estimated that the one-engine 1967 Mooney airplane was going more than 100 miles per hour when it crashed. Burnett also noted there was no odor of fuel and no evidence of fire at the crash scene, which is in a remote wooded part of the county.

Witnesses said they saw the plane in a "right wing-down stall," free-falling to the ground, according to Burnett.

Redmond's son, Floyd Redmond Jr., said his father had flown Dec. 22 to Ohio to spend Christmas with family and was returning to Florida when he crashed. He said federal investigators have told him the plane was in "full cruise configuration" when it hit the ground, meaning the gears were up and it had not slowed.

"All indications are he wasn't even conscious when this plane went down," said Redmond Jr., who also is a pilot and the oldest of Redmond's four children.

Redmond recently had a work-related back injury and complained of back and arm pain, his son said. He did not know whether that could have contributed to the crash.

A call to the National Transportation Safety Board was referred to investigator Corkey Smith, who was at the crash site Tuesday. He did not respond to a message.

Vass, however, said Redmond maintained the Mooney, which was hangared in Live Oak, and doubted there could have been any mechanical problems with the aircraft.

In return, Redmond occasionally would borrow the plane, Vass said. The plane's owner declined an interview.

Redmond, originally from Ohio, began flying at age 16, his son said. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a mechanic stateside during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s, Redmond Jr. added.

He divorced in 1986 and moved to Tallahassee in the early 1990s, when he was a crew member on the plane used in the movie "Memphis Belle."

The replica was touring the country and stopped in Tallahassee, where Redmond met a woman and decided to stay, Vass said.

Redmond has worked as a mechanic at various garages in town, most recently Tires Plus on Capital Circle Northeast.

"He's the most experienced mechanic I've ever worked with," said mechanic Jason Creech, a Tires Plus co-worker. "He loved planes. He had a pencil sharpener shaped like an airplane on his toolbox."

"I gave him that sharpener," added mechanic Larry Atkins, who works at the Downtown BP at Monroe and Tennessee streets. "I saw it and I thought, 'That's Floyd."'

Atkins worked with Redmond for several years at the BP, he said.

"He was the guy you could always count on," he said. "And he could always make you laugh."

Redmond met his girlfriend, Renee Husser, while he was flying the plane that she was sky-diving from. She described them as "very seriously involved" and said they had even been talking about moving to Ohio together.

"I never thought I would find anyone like Floyd," she said. "Everything he said came from the heart."

Video of Crash Site