WEST CARROLLTON, Ohio—A single-engine airplane crashed in a residential neighborhood in this western Ohio town shortly after takeoff Tuesday, killing the pilot and injuring a passenger, the State Highway Patrol said.
The plane, a two-seat Helton Lark 95 manufactured in 1966, took off from nearby Moraine Air Park and flew over the Great Miami River before crashing into trees and a utility pole. The plane ended up in the yard of a home.
Darrell Montgomery, a maintenance worker at the air park, said the plane began sputtering as it was flying over the river.
The pilot, Leonard Evan Notek, 37, of Castle Rock, Colo., was dead at the scene, investigators said. Notek was a pilot for Frontier Airlines in Denver.
His passenger, Nikki Romero, 35, was listed in good condition at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton.
Notek’s mother, Linda Notek of Beavercreek, said her son was flying the plane to Reno, Nev., after someone there bought it.
West Carrollton is about 10 miles south of Dayton.
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Information from: Dayton Daily News,
