Pilot identified in Ravenna plane crash

RAVENNA (AP)

Authorities say the pilot of a single-engine airplane is dead after it crashed into the deck and backyard of an Ohio home, where the residents later found the wreckage.

An autopsy was planned for the pilot. Authorities identified him as 60-year-old Stephen Paulus, of Rootstown. No one else was hurt.

Authorities say Paulus may have crashed while returning to the nearby Portage County Regional Airport.

The residents weren’t home when the crash occurred. It was discovered Sunday evening at the property in Shalersville Township, roughly 30 miles southeast of Cleveland.

State Highway Patrol Sgt. Scott Louive tells WOIO-TV that the debris indicates the aircraft didn’t descend at an angle but “dropped straight down.” The cause of the crash is under investigation.