JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – A pilot and passenger are dead following the crash of a small plane on Buffalo Mountain, southwest of Johnson City.
FAA spokesman Jim Peters told the Johnson City Press the Lancair COL4 aircraft was heading to Bloomington, Indiana, from Knoxville when it crashed around 7:15 Friday night.
According to emergency radio communications, traffic controllers at Tri-Cities Regional Airport lost contact with the pilot of a single-engine plane at about 14,000 feet. Witnesses reported hearing the craft’s engine struggling before seeing an orange glow in the cloudy night sky.
Washington County Sheriff Ed Graybeal said on Saturday trucks and all-terrain vehicles were taking investigators as close to the site as possible, but they would have to hike part of the way.
Graybeal declined to release the identities of those killed.