Posted on 07/13/2026 7:06:02 AM PDT by Red Badger
A father and his 22-year-old son were killed when their small plane apparently flew into a developing storm on their way home from a St. Louis Cardinals game, with investigators saying the aircraft appeared to make a last-minute turn before spiraling down into a rural Illinois tree line.
The pilot, 48, and his son took off from St. Louis Regional Airport in Bethalto late Thursday and were headed to Siloam Springs Municipal Airport in Arkansas when the plane crashed near Waterloo, Illinois, the Monroe County Sheriff's Department in Illinois said in a press release.
The father and son have been identified as Jimmy Don Lewis and Brayden Ty Lewis, the Monroe County Coroner’s Office confirmed to KSDK.
Investigators said the pair had spent the evening at a Cardinals game before starting the flight home in what is believed to have been a Beechcraft Baron 55 private aircraft.
"Investigators believe the aircraft departed into an area of developing severe weather," authorities said. "Flight data indicates the aircraft appeared to begin a turn, possibly in an attempt to avoid the inclement weather, before entering what appeared to be a descending spiral. Radar contact was subsequently lost."
Emergency crews were dispatched around 2:34 a.m. Friday after reports of a possible aircraft crash south of Waterloo. Search efforts were hampered for hours by low clouds, rain and poor visibility, forcing authorities to rely on a massive multi-agency response that included specialized drone teams from Illinois and the St. Louis region.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
That's a tired old chestnut invented by someone rationalizing why they were too cowardly to try to learn to fly. I've never yet head it said by a pilot (of consequence).
And if you think Eddie Rickenbacher, Robin Olds, Chuck Yeager, Bob Hoover, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Mike Novosel weren't bold pilots, you're an idiot (and they all lived to be 80+).
The article did not state if he was IFR rated and current for IFR flight. I remember a flight once from Corpus Christi to Thibodeaux Louisiana. I was in "the soup" all the way. Nothing extraordinary I had a full IFR panel but unfortunately not an auto pilot. I had to fly the whole damn thing. If this pilot did not have an IFR rating and currency I would suspect spatial disorientation and then the classic spiral dive to destruction. Sometimes the wings come off first. Believe your instrument panel but also check the vacuum pressure first. You may be lied to. With rare exceptions most Barons have a full instrument panel.
Have you seen this? Just saw it myself going through my email: https://www.aol.com/articles/woman-details-horrible-moment-husband-133636000.html
Mr. Lewis was a private pilot who relied on a weather tracking system that “had a glitch” and was showing a 30-minute-old picture, according to his daughter Kelsey.
He tried going into a hole based on the picture, according to her.
Then tried to turn around when it was too much.
He wasn’t an instrument pilot and (most likely) lost control when he couldn’t see the horizon and had to rely on instruments.
PRIVATE PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE LAND
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