Before deadly crash, pilot spoke of wind, report says

CHESTER -- The pilot of a small airplane that crashed earlier this month in Arkansas told air traffic controllers he was trying to correct his course after the aircraft got caught in some wind, a preliminary report said.

All four people aboard the Cirrus SR22 died when the plane crashed Sept. 4 in rural Northwest Arkansas. All were members of an Oklahoma family who were traveling from Muskogee to Pickens, S.C.

The pilot, Kevin Herron, told air traffic control he wanted to return to Muskogee because of weather, but the plane began descending rapidly and radio contact was lost, according to a preliminary report issued last week by the National Transportation Safety Board.

An alert was issued for the missing plane, and searchers found the wreckage the next day in a ravine in Crawford County.

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