Unlicensed men take off and die in a Kentucky accident

A small plane that crashed into Kentucky, causing two deaths inside, may have been stolen by victims who were not licensed pilots, the police said Thursday.

The Bellanca 17-30A fell in Henderson, Kentucky, on the other side of the Ohio River, in Evansville, Indiana, killing the couple on board. The people of Sanford, North Carolina, 47-year-old Barry A. Hill and 48-year-old George Tucker, officials said.

The two men were not certified pilots and they were not allowed to take this plane, the Kentucky state police said.

The accident occurred Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, just 75 meters from the runway at Henderson City-County Airport, officials said. The wreckage was found Wednesday around 7:40 by an employee of the airport, authorities said.

The small airport closes at 23h. every night, so no one knows exactly when the plane came down.

One of the men on board knows the owner of the plane and at least one of them has attended flight lessons, the police soldier told NBC News Thursday. from the state of Kentucky, Corey King.

King did not immediately know which of the two men knew the owner of the aircraft, nor whether this student was flying the plane Bellanca.

"Neither man has or has ever had a valid and certified pilot license," said King. "At the moment, there are more questions than answers."

Last year, in Seattle, a Seattle-based Sea-Tac Airport ground services officer flew a Horizon Air plane and performed aerial stunts before it crushed itself. , officials said.

The plane eventually crashed into a wooded area of ​​Ketron Island, in rural Pierce County. Nobody on the ground was injured in the accident that killed employee Richard Russell.