Plane crash in Mich. kills pilot

11/24/2012
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Authorities review the scene of a fatal plane crash in Mancelona, Mich., 140 miles north of Grand Rapids, Mich. Authorities found the wreckage of the Cessna 310B and the body of the pilot, Roger Crawford, 68, Friday after he missed a family gathering on Thanksgiving in Frankfort, Mich.
Authorities review the scene of a fatal plane crash in Mancelona, Mich., 140 miles north of Grand Rapids, Mich. Authorities found the wreckage of the Cessna 310B and the body of the pilot, Roger Crawford, 68, Friday after he missed a family gathering on Thanksgiving in Frankfort, Mich.

MANCELONA, Mich. — A pilot has been found dead in the wreckage of his small plane after missing a family gathering on Thanksgiving.

The Antrim County sheriff’s office says deputies and state police found the body of 68-year-old Roger Crawford Friday morning in Mancelona, about 140 miles north of Grand Rapids.

Sheriff’s officials described Crawford as an experienced pilot “with many years of commercial flight time.”

Relatives contacted deputies Thursday night and reported Crawford had not shown up at a family gathering in Frankfort.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro says Crawford’s Cessna 310B two-engine propeller plane was flying from Gaylord to Cadillac.

The FAA also is investigating a single-engine plane crash Wednesday in Adams Township, about 80 miles west-southwest of Detroit. The 75-year-old pilot was killed in that crash.