Authorities ID pilot killed in Ohio small plane crash

BURTON, Ohio (AP) — Authorities have identified the pilot killed in a small plane that crashed in northeast Ohio.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says the pilot was 55-year-old Troy Bankert, of Middlefield Township.

The patrol says it received a call about 4 a.m. today from Bankert’s girlfriend, who reported she hadn’t heard from him in several hours. The woman says the last time she tracked the plane, a 1967 Piper Arrow, it had made an abrupt turn over LaDue Reservoir in Geauga County.

Flight records show Bankert had taken off at 11 p.m. Tuesday from Wayne County Airport headed to Geauga County Airport in Middlefield. The patrol says the crash likely occurred an hour later.

Bankert and his plane were found in woods near the reservoir about 9 a.m. today.