UPDATE:
WHITESVILLE, Ky. (September 28, 2023) – Authorities are investigating a fatal airplane crash that killed two people in Ohio County.
Kentucky State Police Post 16 was notified just before 11 p.m. Thursday of a possible aircraft crash in the Whitesville community. Troopers and other agencies responded to the last known area in search for the missing Piper PA 28-161 airplane.
Emergency crews were able to find debris related to the crash via drone around 8:30 a.m. Thursday off KY 764 in Ohio County. Two bodies were also located at the wreckage scene.
Ohio County Coroner Elvis Doolin confirmed the identity of the two deceased. Pilot Timothy A. McKellar Jr., 22 of Custer, and flight student Connor W. Quisenberry, 18 of Beaver Dam. Both are scheduled for an autopsy Friday in Madisonville.
Kentucky State Police, the Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, and the Ohio County Coroner are investigating the incident.
Other agencies that responded include the Ohio County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio County EMA, Daviess County Sheriff’s Office, Daviess County EMA, Daviess County Fire and Ohio and Daviess County EMS.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Crews who were searching a heavily wooded area for a plane that went down during a severe storm with an instructor and a student pilot have found two bodies, Kentucky State Police said.
The bodies were found Thursday morning after a drone located a debris field, Trooper Corey King said in a tweet. Kentucky State Police and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating, King said.
The plane was reported missing late Wednesday when it lost communication with an airport control tower during a severe storm, Ohio County Sheriff Adam Wright said in a statement. The instructor and student pilot were flying from Bowling Green to Owensboro when they lost contact with the control tower in Evansville, Indiana, Wright said.
An initial search centered around the Daviess-Ohio County line, but moved into Ohio County after storms moved out of the area and a plane and drones were launched to help search efforts, Wright said. The search then centered behind New Panther Creek Church in Ohio County where paperwork associated with an aircraft was located in a heavily wooded area, the sheriff said.
He said in a statement before the bodies were found that units were searching on foot and from the air and were hopeful to find both pilots alive.
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