Lansford, the oldest of seven children, married in 2011 before deploying to Afghanistan.
“He was a good officer that worked hard and solved problems for his unit throughout his time in Afghanistan,” said a soldier who served with him in Afghanistan but asked not to be identified. “He was a problem solver and dedicated to doing his best everyday. He was a pleasure to work with but was clear that he always wanted to get back to flying. He died doing what he loved.”
Lansford was promoted to the rank of captain while in Afghanistan, but he later gave up his commission and took a lower rank as a warrant officer so that he could continue to fly.
Lansford was not a member of the Guard at the time of his death. He was employed as a corporate pilot, and was on a routine business flight from Indianapolis Executive Airport to Greene County according to National Transportation Safety Board Spokesman Alex Lemishko.
He worked at the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport/Airpark Ohio under Tim Epperhart for about one year. Epperhart, who owns the Middletown Regional Flight Training Institute in Middletown and a flight training school in Springfield, called Lansford “a good guy and a great pilot.”
“When you lose a co-worker, a friend, it’s never a good thing,” Epperhart said. “This is a sad event. He will be missed.”
Lansford’s family declined to comment.
On Wednesday, the NTSB — an independent federal agency responsible for investigating civil aviation accidents — launched it’s investigation into the crash. The agency reported wind conditions were 13 knots, gusting to 17 knots, wind, but not unusually bad weather on Tuesday when the plane crashed.
According to Lemishko, there was no recorded distress call from Lansford to the air traffic controllers. However, he had terminated his radar service before landing. This is typical, Lemishko said.
The agency does not believe the crash was caused by pilot error, Lemishko said, noting that Lansford had more than 2,000 hours of flight time.
Results of the NTSB investigation could take up to a year to report. However, preliminary information about the facts and circumstances that led to the crash could be available in a few weeks, said Peter Knudson, a NTSB spokesman in Washington.
“We will be looking at the medical history of the pilot, the licenses, ratings, recent flight experience, Knudson said. “Even a 72-hour background so the investigator will be talking to friends and relatives to try to establish how the pilot spent the previous 72 hours to see if there was anything that could have affected the pilot’s ability to safely operate the aircraft.”
While NTSB collects information from the crash site, the airport will remain closed, said Dave Kushner, the airport manager.
“We need to move the structure, and we’ll be under the guidance of the NTSB for reopening,” he said.
The crash occurred during a time when a $1 million runway repaving project is planned for the airport.
This year, Greene County has budgeted $1.4 million for the airport, according to county documents.
During previous interviews, the Greene County Regional Airport Authority, the seven-member board who owns the airport, said it planned to fund the project with a Federal Aviation Administration grant. The airport would be required to contribute 10 percent in matching funds.
This newspaper previously reported about 35,000 takeoffs and landings occur annually on the 4,500 foot long runway. The airport, on North Valley Road, is used mostly by small single-engine planes that hold up to four people.
There are 56 aircraft based on the field at the airport, according to AirNav.com — a website that publishes federal aeronautical and airport information. Other aircraft include 44 single-engine planes; 10 multi-engine; one jet and one helicopter.
Karen Kowalewsky, of New Vienna and who works in Fairborn, said she was driving onto U.S. 35 near the split, right past North Valley and Trebein roads, when she spotted the airplane in distress.
“It looked like the plane was trying to make a left turn, but it was pointed down in a bad attitude, and my first thought was, ‘He wasn’t going to make it,’” Kowalewsky said. “I saw him in my windshield maybe 20-30 feet above my car.”
Kowalewsky said the plane was close enough for her to see the engine. The left wing was down and the right wing was up, she said.
She said the plane was flying at a very dangerous angle. “You can’t recover from this. I knew he was going to go down. He had enough control to miss the road. I was hoping he would only brush the trees,” she said.
Evan Andreassen, a Xenia resident, said he was standing in his driveway less than three miles from the airport when he heard the plane crash.
“There was a loud boom,” he said. “A thud … it wasn’t the sound of an explosion or anything, but it was definitely the sound of him impacting the ground.”
Staff writers Rick McCrabb and Andy Sedlak contributed to this report.
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