LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky State Police and search crews have recovered two bodies from an airplane crash in Ohio County late Wednesday night. According to KSP, the airplane was reported missing Wednesday, Sept. 27 by the Federal Aviation Authority. 

What You Need To Know

  • Two bodies have been recovered from the site of a plane crash

  • A flight instructor and student pilot left Bowling Green for Owensboro Wednesday, Sept. 27

  • Search crews were dispatched when Evansville Airport Control lost contact with the plane

  • Drones found the debris area

A drone found debris Thursday morning. KSP and the FAA are investigating the incident. 

Pilot Timothy A. McKellar Jr., 22, of Custer, and flight student Connor W. Quisenberry, 18, of Beaver Dam, died in the crash, Ohio County Coroner Elvis Doolin said. 

The plane was reported missing late Wednesday when it lost communication with an airport control tower during a severe storm, Ohio County Sheriff Adam Wright said in a statement. The instructor and student pilot were flying from Bowling Green to Owensboro when they lost contact with the control tower in Evansville, Indiana, Wright said.

An initial search centered around the Daviess-Ohio county line, but moved into Ohio County after storms moved out of the area and a plane and drones were launched to help search efforts, Wright said. The search then centered behind New Panther Creek Church in Ohio County where paperwork associated with an aircraft was located in a heavily wooded area, the sheriff said.

Wright told the Daily News that the plane departed from Owensboro and completed a touchdown in Bowling Green before heading back and getting caught in a thunderstorm.

“We cannot confirm whether the storm played a vital role in the crash,” King said. “However, we can conclude at this point that likely was the reasoning for the plane going down.”