Two confirmed dead in Ohio County plane crash

An instructor pilot and a student pilot, were en route to Owensboro from Bowling Green when the tower lost contact.
Published: Sep. 28, 2023 at 5:50 AM EDT|Updated: Sep. 28, 2023 at 1:22 PM EDT

OHIO COUNTY, Ky. (WBKO) – Kentucky State Police has confirmed two bodies were found Thursday morning after a search for a crashed airplane.

Ohio County Coroner Elvis Doolin confirmed the identity of the two killed in the crash as pilot Timothy A. McKellar Jr., 22, of Custer, and flight student Connor W. Quisenberry, 18, of Beaver Dam.

Both are scheduled for an autopsy Friday in Madisonville.

Around 11 p.m. Wednesday, the Owensboro Daviess County Central Dispatch received a report from the Evansville Airport Control Tower of a possible airplane crash in Ohio County.

Authorities from both the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office and the Ohio County Sheriff’s Office assumed joint command of the search due to the proximity to the county line.

Kentucky State Police, the Daviess County Fire Department, the Whitesville Fire Department, Daviess County and Ohio County EMA and Ohio County EMS all responded to the command post, which was initially established at Deserter Creek and Old Deserter Creek Roads.

Troopers and other agencies responded to the last known area in search for the missing Piper PA 28-161 airplane.

Emergency crews were able to find debris related to the crash via drone around 8:30 a.m. off KY 764 in Ohio County.

According to Trooper Corey King, KSP officially located the bodies on Thursday around 9:30 a.m.

The initial search was set up based on information from the flight path, cell phone pings of the pilot’s cell phone and the Life360 app.

This is a developing story.