Two die in plane crash in Cherokee National Forest
DEL RIO - A man and woman were killed when their small airplane
crashed into a rock outcropping in the Cherokee National Forest in
Cocke County, authorities said.
The victims were believed to be a husband and wife from Michigan,
but authorities Saturday night had not confirmed the identities. The
experimental aircraft struck the mountain at about the 3,000-foot
level, about 20 feet below the summit. The bodies of the victims
were brought out about 8 p.m. Saturday.
Gary Maples, director of the Tennessee Wing of the civil Air
Patrol, said a distress signal was picked up in the area Friday
night. A brief break in the clouds Saturday morning gave the CAP an
opportunity to fly over the area-know locally as Buzzards Roost -
and locate the crash site, Maples said.
Shane Bunch, an officer with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources
Agency, said he left on foot about noon and got to the site one or
two hours later
The plane had not been reported missing, Maples said. He did
not know the plane's destination.
Knoxville News Sentinel 19 April 1998
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