TEXAS – An experimental aircraft crashed in Kingsland over the weekend, killing the two people on board.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the plane was a Rans S-7 Courier aircraft. The planes are typically made from scratch using plans from assembly kits.

Dick Gossen has been building and flying experimental aircraft for 50 years. He believes there are a lot of misconceptions about experimental aircrafts and their safety.

"All the sheet metal is punched and very explicit step by step," said Gossen. "If I've done it as designed, properly this aircraft will meet the same standards from materials, construction, strength, air worthiness, as if it were made by Cessna."

The Experimental Aircraft Association reports 44 plane crashes in the U.S. from October 2017 to September of the following year, noting a steady decline in the four years prior.

Gossen says not only are the aircraft inspected by the Federal Aviation Adimistration before flight, he must keep up his pilot certificate and test the plane for a number of hours before flying with passengers.

"You literally have to open the airplane up completely. I pull the floor boards up. I open up every inspection panel. In this case, I actually took the wings off, so they can see the fuel systems, the control systems, the electrical systems," Gossen said.

The NTSB is investigating how the small plane crashed.