UPDATE: PILOT DEAD IN JACKSON CO. CRASH

(07/31/2009)
12:05 AM - Walter Smittle, Director of Jackson County Emergency Services, has said the pilot of an airplane that has crashed in Jackson County was pronounced dead at the scene.

The single engine plane crashed about 10 p.m. north of Ravenswood off Rt. 68.

Officials are indicating the pilot became incapacitated in his flight from Nebraska to Indiana, apparently traveling east to West Virginia.

Smittle says he and officials had concerns regarding a parachute device on the plane that deploys during an emergency because it uses explosives when activated.

A 200 yard perimeter has been set up around the plane.

Apparently no homes are in the immediate area of the crash scene.