Local
Wisconsin pilot dies after L-39 Albatros jet crashes near Mayfield airport
A pilot from Wisconsin was killed Sunday afternoon when his military-style L-39 Albatros jet went down in a field near Mayfield Graves County Airport after he reported mechanical trouble and turned back toward the runway. His daughter, flying a second L-39, was not involved in the crash.
MAYFIELD, Ky. â A Wisconsin pilot died Sunday afternoon when the military-style jet he was flying crashed in a field near Mayfield Graves County Airport, according to the Graves County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies said 911 calls began arriving around 2 p.m. reporting a downed aircraft near Interstate 69 and Kentucky Highway 131. First responders located the wreckage in a field just off Spence Chapel Road.
The pilot, the only person aboard, was killed. The aircraft was identified as an L-39 Albatros, an older military-style jet.
Sheriff Jon Hayden said the pilot and his daughter, both from Wisconsin, were returning from an air show in Mississippi and had stopped at the Mayfield airport to refuel. The daughter was flying a second L-39 Albatros.
After takeoff, the pilot radioed that he was turning back to the airport because of a problem with his aircraft. The plane went down in a field shortly afterward.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been notified and are responding. The cause of the crash and the pilot's identity had not been released as of Sunday evening.
The crash brings a federal safety investigation to a rural corner of Graves County, where the airport sits between I-69 and farmland outside Mayfield. The L-39 Albatros, a Czech-designed trainer once used by military forces, is now popular among civilian pilots and air-show performers.
Anyone who witnessed the aircraft's final moments or has information about the flight is asked to contact the Graves County Sheriff's Office or federal investigators.