Cargo plane crash near Columbus kills 3

COLUMBUS (AP) — Three people were killed Monday when a small cargo plane crashed in a field in central Ohio, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The twin-engine aircraft crashed in Pickaway County near the town of Lockbourne after taking off from Rickenbacker Airport around 12 p.m., said Ohio State Patrol Lt. Tony Bradshaw.

FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the plane was headed to Mansfield.

The aircraft was a 1956 Convair 580 that was not hauling any cargo at the time of the crash, Bradshaw said. It was owned by Air Tahoma, an air cargo service with operations out of Rickenbacker.

Kevin Roberts, who lives on a farm neighboring the crash site, told The Columbus Dispatch he was with a friend in his barn repairing a tractor when they heard the plane.

“We heard the plane fly low, and it sounded so loud it shook the barn,” he said. “Then we heard a boom. We looked out and saw smoke.”

The two men drove toward the crash site but could not get close, he said.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

Rickenbacker Airport, about 16 miles south of Columbus near the border of Franklin and Pickaway counties, serves as a cargo hub and has a charter passenger terminal.