An eyewitness said he could “hear something wrong with the plane’s engine” as it passed

By Region 8 Newsdesk 

POINSETT COUNTY, Ark. (KAIT) – Poinsett County Sheriff Kevin Molder says two people died Monday morning when their plane crashed.

The dispatch center received a call that a plane had gone down in the northwestern part of the county around 9:44 a.m., Jan. 4, Molder said.

Multiple agencies responded to the scene where they found a twin-engine plane in a field off Flag Slough Lane between Grubbs and Weiner.

Molder said the victims’ families have been notified.

“They are in our prayers,” he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have also both been notified, he said.

The bodies have been sent to the Arkansas State Medical Examiner’s Office in Little Rock.

“The FAA will identify the aircraft type when investigators locate the identification plate,” said Elizabeth Isham Cory, public affairs specialist for the FAA. “Local authorities will release the names and medical conditions of the aircraft’s occupants.”

One hunter in the area, Brock Davis, saw the plane having issues.

“I was in the duck woods hunting and there was a, what I thought was a single prop plane, going really low over the trees and it sounded like it was too low and it was really loud,” he said. “Something was wrong with one of the engines. Thirty seconds later, I couldn’t see it anymore I heard it, disappear, and saw black smoke billowing for 10 or 15 minutes.”

“You know, I would just like to say, pray for the family and the people affected. It was a very sad deal and I hope you know that safety, new safety precautions come from this.”

She said the FAA and NTSB will investigate the cause of the crash, with the NTSB providing updates as they become available.

According to Conway Regional Airport, the flight was headed to Conway from Jonesboro and “did not make it.”

A man who said he saw the plane go down told our reporter, Miranda Reynolds, he could “hear something wrong with the plane’s engine as it passed near him.”

https://www.kait8.com/2021/01/04/sheriffs-office-responding-plane-crash/