Joel Pennington was killed
Monday morning when his plane crashed into
thick woods.Paris,
Tenn.--Long-time Cottage Grove resident Joel
Pennington was killed Monday morning when
the plane he was using to crop dust fields
along Briarpatch Lake Rd. crashed into thick
woods.
The crash occurred in the woods adjacent to
Yoder Brothers Meat Processing plant, 1650
Briarpatch Lake Rd., around 10 a.m.
According to eye witnesses, Pennington was
crop dusting the field next to Yoder
Brothers when the engine on his Ultra Light
Tandem airplane quit twice and came crashing
down in the woods.
Elam Nissley said he and his family had been
watching the plane for some time. "We were
in the dairy barn and saw the plane. I'm all
into planes, so I was watching him. Then I
heard the engine cut off, with a pop. Then
he glided around in a circle and got it
going again, but the engine cut off again,
with another pop."
Nissley said, "It seemed like it tried his
best, but he couldn't keep the plane off the
ground."
Nissley's sister, Elsie Yoder, saw the plane
crash, and called her husband, James, to
come. Together, they and other family
members followed what they thought was the
trail and found the plane in the heavily
wooded area.
"It's a miracle we found it that fast,"
James Yoder said. "My wife saw it come down,
so we knew where to look and I spotted the
little white tail of the plane."
James and his father, Norman, came up the
plane first. "I said, Hey, sir, can you hear
us? And we got no response. We went up to
the plane then and found him."
Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew was at the
scene, along with several deputies, Paris
police officers, units from the Como-Ore
Springs and Paris Fire Departments, and the
Henry County Emergency Medical Service
ambulance.
Belew said the National Transportation
Safety Board (NTSB) will be on site this
afternoon to conduct an investigation into
the crash. |
The McKenzie Banner
