HARRISON, AR - The two people who were killed in a plane crash at Harrison this morning were identified as 72-year-old John Haley of Little Rock and 70-year-old Farish Kincaid of North Little Rock.
Boone County Sheriff Danny Hickman says the single-engine Bonana plane, believed belonging to Haley and piloted by him, had its landing gear down when it approached the Boone County Airport.
The plane, a two-seater, ended up in a ravine about 300 yards south of the airport after it attempted to land about 10 a.m.
The sheriff said the plane was destroyed and federal investigators would be on the scene tomorrow to try to determine the cause of the accident. Authorities believe the two men were on a business trip to Harrison.
City parks employees, working on a softball complex about a quarter-mile from the airport on the city's north side, said the airplane was dumping fuel before it made an attempt to land.
The parks workers said they could smell the fuel as it dropped around them.
Because of the crash, a plane bringing Lieutenant Governor Win Rockefeller to Harrison for a dedication ceremony at a post office and VFW park in Holiday Island didn't land. Rockefeller spokesman Steve Brawner says the plane turned around and Rockefeller returned to Little Rock.
Note: AP's twin seat Bonana is known elsewhere as a Beechcraft Bonanza.
Oops. Missed this gem the first read through. The Bonanza has no fuel dump capability, press stupes...
This would just be an interesting anecdote were it not for the inconvenient detail that Bonanzas don't have fuel pumps that dump fuel.