Three Killed in Small Plane Crash in Jackson, MS
By: WBLT
Updated: November 14, 2012
Update:
An investigation is underway into a deadly plane crash in Jackson, Mississippi.
Three people were killed yesterday when the single-engine plane went down in a neighborhood near the Jackson Zoo.
One woman on the ground was hurt...but her injuries not life-threatening.
The pilot, John Tilton, was flying with passengers WC Young and David
Williams. All three were killed when the Piper PA-32 Cherokee they were
flying in crashed into a home on Marcus L. Butler Drive in west Jackson.
All three were were traveling to a Federal Aviation Administration safety conference.
The plane had just taken off from Hawkins Field Airport and was headed to Raymond, Mississippi just 25-miles away...when it began to sputter.
Tuesday:
A small plane carrying three people crashed into a house south of the Jackson Zoo late Tuesday afternoon.
The condition of the three people was not immediately known. Fire officials say one person was able to escape from the house. The Hinds County Coroner was on the scene.Michele Latham, one of the owners of the plane, identified two of the men in the plane as John Tilton and WC Young. She didn't identify the third man.
Michele Latham said the men were traveling to an FAA safety meeting in Raymond.
Jackson Municipal Airport Authority officials said in a statement a Piper PA-32 Cherokee 6 single-engine, propeller-driven plane left Hawkins Field for a routine flight operation Tuesday evening.
Shortly after take off, the pilot requested permission from air traffic control to return to the airport. The aircraft was unable to return and crashed, according to the airport authority.
Roger and Michele Latham, from Superior Pallet Company in Flowood own the plane. The couple's daughter was near the crash site and said her father was supposed to have been on board but changed his plans.
"He went hunting," she said. "Thank God."
Vivian Payne, who lives about six blocks from the crash site, said that about 5 p.m., she heard a loud bang that sounded different from an electrical transformer blowing.
"It shook the walls of my house," Payne said as she stood among ambulances, police cars and fire trucks, their lights flashing in the chilly night air.
The cause of the crash is not known as this time. The Federal Aviation Administration is on the scene.
The National Transportation Safety Board will assume command of the crash investigation when they arrive.
