Two people are dead after the crash of a small plane in western Kentucky. WNIN’s John Gibson reports:
Authorities say a drone helped searchers find the bodies of the plane’s two occupants Thursday morning after Wednesday night’s crash in stormy weather in Ohio County.
Kentucky State Police Trooper Corey King told reporters that a pilot and a student were aboard the aircraft:
"Once the crews were inside the debris field they did locate two bodies, assuming it was the pilot and the student."
King says the two victims were from Eagle Flight Academy in Owensboro.
Their identities were not available as of midday Thursday.
King says the plane went down in a wooded area off State Road 764, and left a half-mile long debris field:
"That is the size from the point of impact to the final rest."
King says severe storms were popping up at the time of the flight:
"This area was specifically hit hard based on the wind shear as well as the hail that was associated with this storm."
The tower at Evansville Regional Airport lost contact with the plane just before 11 p.m. Wednesday near Whitesville, Kentucky.
Update: The Ohio County coroner identified the pilot as 22-year-old Timothy McKellar Jr. of Custer, Kentucky, and the flight student as 18-year-old Connor Quisenberry of Beaver Dam.
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