MCDERMOTT, Ohio — The names of the two people killed Friday morning in a deadly Scioto County plane crash have been released.
Officials confirm the pilot, 64-year-old David Lewis James, and one passenger, 64-year-old Lori Denise James both of Bellefontaine, were killed. The two died upon impact, troopers said, just before 11 a.m. when their four-seater Lancair Evolution plane went down in a wooded area adjacent to State Route 104 near the Intersection of State Route 73. The aircraft had left Bellefontaine about 45 minutes earlier and was headed to Charleston, South Carolina.
The plane was traveling at 25,000 feet and going 242 miles per hour at 10:45 a.m., according to flight records. A few minutes later, the speed started to slow down, the plane started to make a hard left turn, and began descending quickly, before crashing.
When the crash occurred, 9-1-1 calls came in from the nearby Elks Golf Course near McDermott reporting a plane crash. A Highway Patrol helicopter was called to the area to help locate the scene. When first responders went to the area they found a plane down with no survivors. Due to the rocky terrain of the mountains where the crash is located, fire trucks were unable to get hoses and water to the burning aircraft. As a result, firefighters were toting fire extinguishers up the hill to put out the blaze.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Traffic Safety Board were called to the scene to investigate.
