Preliminary report out in fatal Darke County plane crash

DARKE COUNTY — A funeral is being held today for Jacob Turner, one of two men killed in a fatal plane crash Sept. 16 in Darke County.

The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary crash report.

• The two men took off about 8 a.m.
• Plane crashed around 9:15 a.m.
• The single-engine Piper Cub PA-11 went down in a cornfield off Dull Road, near Arcanum.
• Clayton Heins, 20, and Jacob Turner, 19, identified as the fatalities.

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UPDATE @ 10:25 a.m. (Sept. 22):

A preliminary crash report has been released in this fatal plane crash that killed two men.

The report by National Transportation Safety Board is preliminary and subject to change.

Around 9:15 a.m. Sept. 14, a Piper PA-11 airplane, N4910M, struck the ground while maneuvering near Arcanum. The student pilot, Clayton Heins, and passenger, Jacob Turner, were killed.

The plane had taken off around 8 a.m., according to the report.

NTSB cites a Facebook video posted by the passenger that shows the airplane was maneuvering near the grass strip, with the student pilot in the front seat and the passenger in the rear seat.

The airplane crashed into a cornfield about 300 yards north of the grass strip, which damaged both wings and fuselage. The airplane came to rest about 100 feet from the initial ground impact point, according to NTSB.

UPDATE @ 8:50 p.m. (Sept. 16):

Funeral services were announced today for Clayton Heins and Jacob Turner, the two young men killed in a Darke County plane crash.

The service for Clayton Heins, 20, will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Moraine Airpark, 3800 Clearview Drive, and there will be a gathering of family and friends from 1 p.m. until the service time.

A visitation for Jacob Turner, 19, is from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Zechar Bailey Funeral Home, 1499 N. Broadway St., Greenville. Funeral service is at 10 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home, followed by burial in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.

UPDATE @ 4:53 p.m. (Sept. 15):

Michael Folkerts, an investigator with National Transportation Safety Board, said Heins only had a student pilot certificate and was not allowed to fly a passenger.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, and Folkerts did not want to speculate on the speed of the aircraft. He did say the high-speed crash did not look like a forced landing.

UPDATE @ 4:40 p.m. (Sept. 15):

Clayton Heins and Jacob Turner were friends, “known to each other for quite some time,” said Mark Whittaker, chief deputy, Darke County Sheriff’s Office.

Heins was flying the aircraft owned by his father around 8 a.m. Wednesday. The crash happened sometime in the morning, according to witnesses interviewed.

NTSB investigator Michael Folkerts said the cause of the crash is still under investigation and he did not want to speculate on the speed of the aircraft.

UPDATE @ 4:27 p.m. (Sept. 15):

The two deceased men have been identified Clayton Heins, 20, and Jacob Turner, 19, according to the Darke County Sheriff’s Office.

UPDATE @ 2:19 p.m. (Sept. 15):

Investigators with NTSB removed the downed plane from the cornfield after 2 p.m. Thursday.

The identifications of two men killed in the plane crash Wednesday are expected to be released this afternoon.

UPDATE @ 7 p.m. (Sept. 14):

The male victims have been taken to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. According to the Darke County Sheriff’s Office, the sheriff’s office will not release the names of the victims tonight.

The single-engine, two-seater Piper Cub PA-11 went down “under unknown circumstances,” Tony Molinaro, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration, said in an email earlier in the afternoon.

Molinaro also said the FAA does not have information about the names of the occupants or the flight plan.

Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration have been to the crash site and investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are expected on Thursday.

The wreckage was found in a cornfield, about 150 yards east of a railroad bed and north of Dull Road by a family member in a search plane, which had been sent up because the victims had been reported as missing and unaccounted for, a deputy said.

The plane was believed to have taken off about 8 a.m. from a private landing strip on Dull Road, deputies said, and witnesses reported seeing the plane in the Arcanum area in the morning.

According to sheriff’s officials, a family member of one or both of the victims contacted the sheriff’s office after failed attempts to make contact with the two in the aircraft.

Deputies and emergency crews were dispatched to the cornfield about 1:45 p.m. and discovered the wreckage and the victims. When the crash occurred is not known, according to the preliminary investigation by the sheriff’s office.

Frank Brown, of West Carrollton, identified himself as the best friend of one of the victims. He said they were flying from Darke County to West Carrollton to meet him because they were planning to surprise a female friend of theirs and take her up for a ride.