History of plane crashes at the Greene County airport

With Tuesday night's fatal plane crash in Xenia, that brings the unofficial count to seven crashes since 1998 at or near the Greene County-Lewis A. Jackson Regional Airport.

Some of the planes went down because of pilot error, and others fell from the sky due to mechanical problems.

The pilot, Joel W. Lansford, 33, of Fairborn, was alone aboard the Cirrus SR-22 when it reportedly crashed into a hillside about 6 p.m. Tuesday. Lansford died in the crash.

The crash is under investigation.

The other six crashes were:

  • March 27, 1998: Xenia native Wayne Cozad's jet-powered airplane went down in a wooded area shortly after taking off. Cozad and a Minnesota man were killed. The Federal Aviation Administration determined the aircraft was flying too low while performing aerobatics.
  • Aug. 1, 2001: Paul W. Frank, of Riverside, and Air Force Maj. Charles P. Brothers, of Beavercreek, died after a twin-engine plane crashed in a cornfield in New Jasper Twp., Greene County.
  • May 5, 2007: A Beavercreek man survived a hard landing. Investigators said the landing gear on his single-engine plane did not engage and the aircraft came to a skidding stop.
  • June 11, 2012: Roger Flowers died not far from the airport when his experimental aircraft fell out of the sky. The veteran Navy pilot was killed on impact.
  • Oct. 9, 2013: Federal investigators questioned a pilot and passenger from Alabama after their plane's landing gear collapsed during touchdown. No injuries were reported.
  • Oct. 19, 2014: A plane veered off the runway. Investigators said the pilot caught the wing tip on a light and then a hill before the Cessna spun around and came back down. The pilot went to the hospital for treatment.
  • Aug. 14, 2015: Troopers blamed pilot error for a crash landing. They said the pilot failed to put the landing gear down. The pilot was not injured.

Staff writer Gabrielle Enright contributed to this story.

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