MAYFIELD, Ky. (Scripps News Group) — A Wisconsin pilot was killed when a military-style jet crashed in a Kentucky field near the Mayfield-Graves County Airport on Sunday afternoon, according to the Graves County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Jon Hayden said calls of a downed plane were reported at around 2:08 p.m. Emergency responders found the plane in a field just off Spence Chapel Road engulfed in flames. The sole occupant, the pilot, had died, the sheriff’s office said.
The plane was an L-39 Albatros, an older military-style jet. The pilot and his daughter, both from Wisconsin, were returning from an air show in Mississippi and stopped at the Mayfield-Graves County Airport to refuel. She was also flying an L-39 Albatros.
After takeoff, the pilot radioed that he was returning to the airport and was experiencing an issue shortly before the plane went down in a field. The second L-39 Albatros returned to the airport and landed safely.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have been notified and responded to the scene and will be conducting the investigation, Hayden said.
The area was cordoned off as the FAA and NTSB continue to investigate the crash.
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