Plane Crash Victims Identified

Emergency workers examine the wreckage of a plane that crashed Friday, Nov. 1, 2013 in a field south of U.S. 412 near Bennington Road in Springdale. There were no survivors from the wreck. Washington County personnnel responded to the wreck at 5:46 p.m.
Emergency workers examine the wreckage of a plane that crashed Friday, Nov. 1, 2013 in a field south of U.S. 412 near Bennington Road in Springdale. There were no survivors from the wreck. Washington County personnnel responded to the wreck at 5:46 p.m.

FAYETTEVILLE — The Washington County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday identified Searcy W. Harrell, 72, and Ruth Ann Hudson, 71, both of Camden, as the people who died in a plane crash near Sonora on Friday evening.

Kelly Cantrell, a spokeswoman with the Sheriff’s Office, said Hudson and Harrell were the only people on board the 1981 Beechcraft C-90 King Air, a dual engine, propeller-driven aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane is owned by J&G Aviation in Camden.

Cantrell said the victim’s bodies will be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab to determine their cause of death.

At A Glance

Other Crashes

Friday’s crash was the fourth in Northwest Arkansas in the past two weeks. The three others:

• On Oct. 23 two men walked away from a single-engine plane after an emergency landing in a hayfield along Center Street in Fayetteville. Tommy Lee, who owns the 2008 Remos GX Light Sport aircraft, said the pilot, Ken Braswell, was returning from Little Rock to Springdale when he ran out of fuel about 2:15 p.m. and landed in a field, across from the Elkhorn Station, 2405 N. Center St.

• An Arkansas man was killed Oct. 24 when his plane crashed in the Ouachita Mountains in southeast Oklahoma, officials said. Elmer Ray Broadbent, 71, of Heber Springs was found with his plane by Oklahoma emergency workers.

• Ivan B. Williams III, 63, and his wife Adina Beth Williams, 52, both of Pryor, Okla., died Oct. 21 when their Piper Saratoga plane went down in Madison County, a couple of miles off Arkansas 23.

Source: Staff Report

Searcy W. Harrell Jr., is listed as an attorney at Harrell & Lindsey in Camden.

According to a 911 call, the Springdale airport reported the plane was having trouble 2 to 3 miles southeast of Springdale.

The airplane ran out of fuel, according to the call.

A witness, who lives on Sonora Drive, reported to Springdale police she heard a plane flying low before it crashed in a nearby field, according to the call.

The wreckage of the aircraft hadn’t been moved as of Saturday afternoon. It was being guarded by a Sheriff’s Office deputy.

Cantrell said she didn’t know why Harrell and Hudson were flying to Northwest Arkansas.

She referred additional questions to the Federal Aviation Administration.

“The Sheriff’s Office role is investigating the unattended deaths,” she said. “I’ll refer anything to do with the crash to the FAA.”

Roland Herwig, public affairs spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the airplane was flying from Pine Bluff to Bentonville.

He said the National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation.

“Our role is to support the NTSB in their investigation with anything they need us to do,” he said.

Peter Knudson, public affairs spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said the plane crashed 10 miles south of the Springdale airport.

Knudson said Arnold Scott with the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the plane crash.

“I haven’t heard from him yet, but that could be because he’s traveling or in the field,” he said.

Knudson said he didn’t have any other information about the plane crash as of 3 p.m. Saturday.

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