Raymond man dies in plane crash outside of Virden
One person died after a plane crashed Saturday morning just outside of Virden only minutes after taking off Litchfield airport, Macoupin County Sheriff Shawn Kahl confirmed Sunday morning.
The pilot, Gregory M. Bierman, 62, of Raymond, was pronounced dead at the scene by Macoupin County Coroner Anthony Kravanya.
Preliminary autopsy findings indicate Bierman died from multiple blunt force injuries sustained in the crash, Kravanya said in a release Monday.
According to FlightAware, the plane took off from Litchfield Municipal Airport at 8:39 a.m. Saturday.
The office received multiple 911 calls about the plane about the plane being in distress over the Virden city limits beginning at 8:48 a.m. Saturday, Kahl said.
The pilot turned from the north and started going back south, he said.
Two sheriff's deputies discovered the crash, about one-eighth of a mile southwest of Dean Street, next to a soybean field, Kahl said. The single-engine plane crashed into a tree line.
"I think it was obvious (to witnesses) that something was going on with the plane," Kahl said.
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Kahl said deputies were canvassing the area to talk to witnesses. He was unsure if there was any video evidence of the plane crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration was on site Saturday. Officials from the National Transportation and Safety Board arrived Sunday, Kahl said and were working with sheriff's investigators. Kahl said he expected the crash site to be cleared Monday, but he could not confirm that it had been cleared.
This is the third fatal plane crash in Macoupin County in the last three years.
On May 31, 2020, four people from the same family died when a Piper Cherokee PA 28-235 single-engine aircraft en route to Lansing, Michigan, from Creve Coeur, Missouri, crashed at a private farm three miles south of Carlinville.
Less than a month earlier, a Carlinville man was killed when his Yakoviev Yak-52, a trainer aircraft, went down near the Zelmer Memorial Airpark, just south of Palmyra.
The site of Saturday's crash is about 28 miles southwest of Springfield.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: One person was killed in a plane crash in Macoupin County Illinois
