By Billy Davis

A late-night fire Monday destroyed a 9,000-square-foot hangar, and a Beechcraft airplane inside it, at the Panola County airport.

 

Five fire departments battled the fire at the hangar, located on the south portion of the airport grounds.

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The hangar is owned by PSY Enterprises, co-owner Andy Yelton, a Batesville attorney, said Tuesday.

 

The hangar formerly housed a business, Aircraft Interiors. The building was set to be rented to a client who had parked his Beechcraft King Air inside just days earlier, according to Yelton.

 

 “We were working out the details in September,” Yelton said. “I hadn’t even collected the first month’s rent yet.”

 

Yelton estimated the King Air is worth at least $1 million.

 

The renter had been working on the airplane hours before the fire, he said.

 

Fire investigators, representing local and state agencies, were on the scene Tuesday.

 

Fire departments that responded were Batesville, Cole’s Point, Courtland, Mt. Olivet and Sardis Lower Lake.