2 dead in Pike plane crash

PIKEVILLE — A small twin-engine Cessna 310 trying to land in heavy fog at Pike County Regional Airport crashed about 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Two people died, said Pikeville police spokesman Paul Maynard, and National Transportation Safety Board officials were on their way to investigate Wednesday afternoon. There were no survivors.

Shortly before the scheduled landing of the flight from Dayton, Ohio, the Pikeville airport received a call from the pilot, requesting information about conditions on the ground, said airport manager Matt Ray. He said the airport is "uncontrolled," meaning ground staff do not assist with landing and takeoff.

When he heard about the low visibility and heavy fog, the pilot said he would try to land using GPS coordinates and radar guidance from a larger airport, such as Indianapolis, Ray said.

The airport has an automated guidance system that might have helped, but it works only when planes fly in from the opposite direction the Cessna was approaching from, and it is up to pilots whether to use the system.

The plane, registered to Miller Aviation in Portland, Ind., appeared to have hit trees southwest of the runway and then dropped into a deep valley near a McCoy-Elkhorn coal mine road off Kelsey Friend Boulevard and U.S. 23.

This story was originally published March 31, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "2 dead in Pike plane crash."