Small Plane Crashes Into Home, Killing 4

It was carrying three Texas residents to graduation ceremony in Mississippi
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 5, 2021 5:25 PM CDT
4 Dead After Plane Crashes Into Mississippi Home
Hattiesburg police surround a burned automobile and a damaged home after a small plane crashed late Tuesday night in Hattiesburg, Miss., Wednesday May 5, 2021.   (AP Photo/Chuck Cook)

A small plane crashed into a Mississippi home, killing one of the home's four occupants and three Texas residents who were flying to a university graduation ceremony, authorities said Wednesday. A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was en route to Hattiesburg, about 90 miles southeast of the Mississippi capital of Jackson, to investigate Tuesday's crash, which caused a fire, the agency said, per the AP. Authorities weren’t aware of any distress calls from the Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 but have yet to review air traffic recordings, agency spokesman Peter Knudson said. Police and the coroner’s office identified the dead as Gerry Standley, 55, of Hattiesburg; and two adults and a toddler from Wichita Falls, Texas: Louis Provenza, 67; Anna Calhoun, 23; and Harper Provenza, 2.

Standley worked full-time for a paving company and was assistant pastor at his church, according to a webpage to raise money for funeral expenses. His wife, Melinda, division manager for the police department’s 911 center, their daughter Arrianna and grandson Eli all got out of the home with minor injuries, it said. Provenza was a neurosurgeon at United Regional Physician Group, and Calhoun was a junior studying biology at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. They were on their way to see a family member graduate Wednesday from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. The plane had flown out of Wichita Falls and was preparing to land at Bobby L. Chain Municipal Airport in Hattiesburg when it crashed at 11:22pm, Knudson said.

(More Mississippi stories.)

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