LICKING COUNTY, Ohio — The Ohio State Highway Patrol has identified the man who was killed in a plane crash in Licking County Tuesday afternoon.
The pilot was identified as 74-year-old Paul Brown of Zanesville. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No other passengers were on board.
Brown was the fifth president emeritus of Zane State College.
Zane State College president Chad Brown said in a tweet, "Dr. Paul R. Brown, leader, mentor, friend. Through your vision of what this community could be and your belief in shaping a better future, you touched so many lives throughout Southeastern Ohio. You will be missed!"
Troopers say that at 1:37 p.m., a 2005 single-engine Cessna Skylane had just left the Newark-Heath Airport when it crashed into a wooded area near the 400 block of Linnville Road.
OSHP said the plane hit several trees, crossed Linnville Road before striking a guardrail and sliding down an embankment.
“There's a wide swath of debris. From the debris that we can see it does look like it struck some trees and struck the guardrail before it went down the hillside here,” Sargent Brice Nihiser said.
Based on the tail number, the plane is out of Wilmington, Delaware and is registered to a company called Wing and A Prayer LLC.
OSHP said the Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the cause of the crash.