GLASGOW, Ky. (WTVF) — A man was found dead Monday afternoon as a result of a helicopter crash Saturday in Barren County, Kentucky.
Helicopter pilot and military veteran David Stone, 69, of Louisville, Tennessee, was reported missing just before midnight Saturday while he was en route to Knoxville, Tennessee, from St. Louis, Missouri, in a small, blue Jetexec helicopter, according to Glasgow/Barren County Emergency Management Deputy Director Marcus Thurman.
The helicopter wreckage was located Monday around 3 p.m. near Hwy 70 and Park Boundary Road in Mammoth Cave National Park, just north of Cedar Spring, Kentucky. Stone was found by rescue crews, who were lowered down to the crash site.
Thurman provided a timeline of the events prior to the discovery of Stone and the helicopter crash over the weekend:
Stone took off on a solo flight from Coeur Airport in St. Louis, Missouri, headed toward Sparta, Illinois, around noon Saturday. When he stopped for fuel in Sparta, Stone touched base with his wife Terry before heading to Glasgow, Kentucky, for another fuel break. No issues were reported during this phone call.
After the stop in Glasgow, Stone was expected to continue on to the final stop in Knoxville, Tennessee. His wife contacted the Glasgow Police Department, Warren County Sheriff's Office and Smiths Grove Police Department around midnight Saturday with a request to ping an iPad her husband carried with him.
When officers pinged the device, the last known location appeared near the line separating Warren County and Edmonson County near Chalybeate. Edmonson and Warren County emergency teams searched the area by ground in multiple directions without any success.
Civil Air Patrol and local pilots flew in grid patterns to aid in the search as well, but they were unable to locate the crash site. A search team in a rescue helicopter was able to locate the scene Monday.
The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation and report its findings at a later date.
