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Victims In Williamson County Crash Identified, Investigation Continues

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Williamson County Regional Airport

Federal authorities continue to investigate Friday's crash at the Williamson County Regional Airport.Williamson County Chief Deputy Coroner Scott Kinley says 56-year old John D. Alleman of Carbondale was killed, and 64-year old Todd Greiner was airlifted to a St. Louis area hospital and is listed in critical condition.

Airport Director Doug Kimmel says the plane was attempting to land shortly after 4:30 Friday afternoon when it crashed about 500 feet north of the 02-20 runway, the airport's north-south landing strip.

National Transportation Safety Board Investigator Aaron Sauer says the plane, a 2004 Cirrus SR22, had reportedly been on an instructional flight and was performing touch-and-go maneuvers when it went down.

"We investigate man, machine, and environment. The 'man' being the two occupants on board - their experience, their training, particularly what they were doing on that flight; the 'machine' being the aircraft - we'll take a look at the maintenance records, any history on that aircraft, and airworthiness directives and service bulletins associated with that aircraft; the 'environment' being the weather conditions - the weather conditions reported were fairly good: clear skies, minimal winds."

Sauer says while there is no "black box" on this particular plane, there are some devices that can be analyzed. Those avionics, he says, were damaged in the crash but will be sent to Washington for further testing.

The NTSB investigation is expected to release some preliminary results in about a week, while the final analysis and report won't be done for at least six months.

The airport closed runway 02-20 after the crash, though the east-west runway remained open. Director Kimmel says the north-south runway will remain closed until the debris from the crash is recovered, and the area has been inspected and declared safe.

Jennifer Fuller joined Capitol News Illinois in July 2023 as the organization’s broadcast director. She will oversee the launch and operations of CNI’s new broadcast division.

Contact Jennifer Fuller at jfuller@capitolnewsillinois.com
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