Crashed plane, two bodies found near Owensboro

UPDATE:
The overnight search for a missing plane in Ohio County ended Thursday morning with two bodies found in a wooded area.

A single-engine Piper PA-28 crashed late Wednesday night near Whitesville, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA said local authorities using a drone found the debris field and wreckage of the plane at about 5:30 a.m in a heavily wooded area near Whitesville.

Around 9:40 a.m., Kentucky State Police announced they found two people who were in the plane when it crashed. Their names were not immediately released.

The debris field of the crash was about a mile and a half wide, according to reports.

Kentucky State Police said they believe the pilot and student pilot were flying during nighttime as part of training for the student. To acquire a license, a student pilot must accrue a minimum number of hours of flight at night.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will conduct the investigation into the crash.


ORIGINAL STORY:
Law enforcement has been searching since last night for an apparent plane crash southeast of Owensboro.

Emergency dispatchers were alerted by the Evansville Airport Control Tower of the possible plane crash at 11 p.m. near the Whitesville community at the Daviess/White county line.

Two people were believed to have been in the plane when it crashed, an instructor and a student pilot, who were enroute to Owensboro from Bowling Green when the tower lost contact. At the time of the suspected crash a severe thunderstorm had developed in the area. 

After the weather cleared, drones and an airplane began the initial search based on information from the flight path and cell phone pings of the pilot’s cell phone, and use of an emergency radio to locate the signal from the plane's emergency transponder.

The search was centered around New Panther Creek Church inside Ohio County. Shortly after units focused on that area, paperwork associated with an aircraft was located in a heavily wooded area behind the church. 

At last report from a press conference this morning, units were still searching on foot and from the air. 




Stock photo of a Piper PA-28 airplane, the same type found crashed in western Kentucky on Thursday morning. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)