Plane crash kills Cook Medical official and daughter

A National Transportation Safety Board inspector said Saturday afternoon, however, it would take six months to a year to determine the crash’s cause.

The FAA told News Channel 11 a Lancair COL4 or Cessna 400 aircraft crashed as it was flying from Knoxville, TN to Bloomington, Indiana on Friday night.

This is a picture of Bill Gibbons that appears on the Cook Medical company website.

Scheurman said the bodies will undergo DNA testing to confirm identification, but did not officially release the identities.

The Bloomington Herald Times reports that Cook Medical in a statement said that vice president of engineering William S. Gibbons Jr. and his daughter, Abbey, were killed when the plane crashed into Buffalo Mountain.

Cook Medical released this statement: “Our hearts are heavy today as we learned about the passing of our friend and coworker”.

Witnesses in the area reported a sputtering sound from the planes engine just before the crash. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, ‘ said Bloomington High School South Principal Mark Fletcher.

When they arrived at the scene Saturday morning, authorities determined the crash to be on the Washington County side of the mountain.

Authorities say a break in the weather allowed pilot Mike Musick a brief window to search through the clouds and fog, and he spotted fires burning near the wreckage. Then, Unicoi County emergency response workers secured the scene. Washington County, Tennessee crews joined the effort Saturday morning.

According to emergency radio communications, traffic controllers at Tri-Cities Regional Airport lost contact with the pilot of a single-engine plane at about 14,000 feet, the Associated Press reports.

Investigators with the NTSB and FAA were on their way to the crash site Saturday. Etcher addressed the media at a command post established at the base of the Buffalo Mountain ATV Trail on Dry Creek Road before going to the crash site. EMS trucks and all-terrain vehicles were taking a forensic team from East Tennessee State University’s Jenkins Forensic Center as far up Buffalo Mountain as possible to investigate the crash, but they would have to hike the rest of the way in.