Worker Killed at W.Va. Airport after Collapse

A construction worker with a North Carolina contractor was killed at a West Virginia airport Thursday after a portion of a hangar being built near a private terminal collapsed, airport director Rick Atkinson confirmed.

Bobbie Roger McCray, 46, of Selma died at Yeager Airport near Charleston, W.Va., after being crushed by a roof beam about 9:14 a.m., said Yeager spokesman Mike Plante. No one else was injured.

McCray had seven children with one on the way, said Pam McCray, his pregnant widow and mother of two of his children.

Born and raised in Selma, McCray loved to cook and did the grilling for his family, said his nephew, Decarrius Tinsley. He also built benches for "whoever wanted it," his widow said.

McCray was part of an eight- to 10-man crew from Wayne's Erecting LLC that was preparing to start securing bolts in the steel structure when the back wall of the hangar fell, taking several roof beams with it, Atkinson said.

The cause of the collapse has not been determined, but wind might have been a factor, Atkinson said. Wind speeds of about 32 mph were recorded about the time of the accident, he said.

A wide perimeter was secured around the unstable structure "so if something else happens, no one else will be injured," he said.

Kate Dugan, a spokeswoman for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said Selma-based Wayne's Erecting has no incidents on record with OSHA. She declined to comment further, except to say the agency sent two inspectors to the airport.

The hangar measures 190 feet wide, 120 feet deep and 42 feet high. It is being built for Executive Air, which offers private air service from Yeager. Construction began about two weeks ago.

(N&O staff writer Sarah Ovaska contributed to this report.)

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