Clark County plane crash victims identified
By Breaking News Staff
HARMONY TWP., Clark County, Ohio —
The FAA is investigating the crash of a small experimental plane that went down in a rain-soaked cornfield in Harmony Twp., Clark County, Friday morning (July 22), killing a husband and wife from Dearborn, Mich.:
Dead are Levon King, 81, and Gloria King, 85
The FAA lost contact with plane just before 11 a.m.
Unclear if crash was weather-related, officials say
Mr. King was a longtime political figure in Michigan
Preliminary crash report could be ready next week
FULL REPORT
The FAA has taken over the investigation because of the known circumstances around the crash, NTSB Air Safety Investigator Joshua Lindberg said Friday night.
The pilot, believed to be 81-year-old Levon King, of Dearborn, Mich., was communicating with air traffic controllers in Columbus but investigators still had no information on the departure location or where King was headed.
Thunderstorms and lightning were in the area for much of the morning, but investigators don’t yet know whether King indicated distress because of the weather, Lindberg said. “That will all be known once we get the tapes,” he said.
A preliminary crash report should be available from the FAA, via the NTSB, next week, Lindberg said.
According to the Ohio Highway Patrol Springfield post, the single-engine Vans/RV-9A crashed in a rain-soaked cornfield in the 3200 block of Newlove Road in Harmony Twp., Clark County.
FAA officials told the state patrol they lost contact with the plane by radio and on radar about 10:51 a.m. Clark County sheriff’s dispatchers said they received calls after witnesses said they heard a crash and possibly saw smoke.
The state patrol brought in its helicopter and ATVs were used to help locate the plane, which came to rest in heavy vegetation and crops. Troopers and personnel from Harmony Twp. Fire and EMS and Clark County sheriff’s deputies worked together to find the wreckage after searching for roughly 30 minutes.
Rescuers described the scene as horrific, patrol Lt. Brian Aller said.
Troopers and investigators with the NTSB and Civil Air Patrol were at the site late into Friday night. The remains of the plane were towed to Springfield.
The News Herald, in Southgate, Mich., reports that Levon King was a longtime downriver political figure, having served as mayor of Allen Park and as city administrator in Southgate. He retired from public life in 2009.
He owned the RV-9A, according to the News Herald.
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Date:
22-JUL-2016
Time: -10:58
Type:
Vans RV-9
Owner/operator:
Registration:
C/n / msn:
Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities: 0
Airplane damage: Unknown
Location: East of Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport (KSGH), Springfield, OH -
United States of America Phase: Unknown
Nature: Unknown
Departure airport:
Destination airport:
Narrative:
The aircraft impacted farm field terrain in Clark County, northwest of South Charleston and east of Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport (KSGH), Springfield, Ohio. The airplane sustained unreported damage and the two occupants onboard received fatal injuries.
Sources:
http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/developing-reports-of-possible-plane-crash-in-clar/nr3rD/
http://m.wlwt.com/news/1-dead-in-central-ohio-plane-crash/40837498
http://nbc4i.com/2016/07/22/2-dead-in-single-wing-plane-crash-in-clark-county/