By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

ATLANTA — Two Salisbury businessmen were killed in a plane crash in the Atlanta area on Wednesday, the Dekalb County, Georgia, Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Thursday.

They were identified as Leslie Csanyi Jr., 59, and Scott Robert Lowrie, 60.

Csanyi, who is the owner of CMW Manufacturing LLC on Speedway Boulevard. Lowrie is president and general manager of the company.

The company specializes in precision machining production parts for the heavy and medium truck industries, according to its website.

The men were aboard the Piper PA-28 plane when it crashed after takeoff from the DeKalb-Peachtree Airport on Wednesday morning. The plane crashed into a townhouse complex.

Georgia fire and rescue personnel confirmed Wednesday morning that the plane was bound for Rowan County. And DeKalb-Peachtree Airport confirmed that only two people were on the plane when it took off from the airport.

By 11 a.m., the airport reported that one person had died. Later, Georgia officials confirmed that a second body had been found.

No one was inside the townhouses at the time of the crash. The complex has been declared uninhabitable.

Csanyi, known as “Les,” was originally from Toronto and told the Post in a 2016 story that he loved hockey, but that the sport was hard to come by when he moved to North Carolina.

Csanyi told the Post that he needed a new hobby and took up flying as a way to conquer fear. He wasn’t necessarily into aviation and was, in fact, afraid of heights, he said, adding that he thought flying would ease his fear.

He obtained his pilot’s license in 1999.

Csanyi said he met his wife through her brother, Mike Strickland, who was a pilot. Csanyi and Mike became flying buddies and he was introduced to Sandra, whom he married several years ago.

In 2010, Les and Sandra Csanyi took supplies and medicine to Haiti after an earthquake.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating Wednesday’s crash.