April 03 -- ELWOOD, IN -- Firefighters from across Madison County converged at Pipe Creek Township Fire Department on Monday night after learning two members of the department died in an airplane crash at Marion Municipal Airport earlier in the day.
The victims were identified as Kyle Hibst and David Wittkamper. Both men were 31 and from Elwood.
"We lost a couple of men today," Chief Richard Shepherd said in a brief interview. "We've been working with the families. It hasn't even begun to sink in yet."
Grant County Coroner Chris Butche said a plane taking off to the southeast clipped a larger plane that was landing from the north shortly after 5 p.m., according to WTHR, newsgathering partner of The Herald Bulletin.
The smaller plane crashed and caught fire, killing the pilot and passenger.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft involved were a single-engine Cessna 150 and a Cessna 525 Citation Jet. None of the five people in the larger plane was injured, according to authorities.
Both men were active members of the volunteer department, said Todd Harmeson, deputy director of the Madison County Emergency Management Agency.
Wittkamper joined the department in 2007.
"His father and grandfather are both members here," Harmeson said.
Hibst joined the department in 2011 and was emergency medical service chief, Harmeson added. Hibst was the pilot of the Cessna 150 (the smaller of the two aircraft), according to Harmeson.
According to the FAA, the facility does not have an air traffic control tower. Pilots in the area use a common radio frequency to announce their intentions and coordinate with one another while on the ground and in the traffic pattern.
FAA investigators were at the scene Monday evening.
The National Transportation Safety Board was notified of the crash and will be in charge of the investigation.
Like Stu Hirsch on Facebook and follow him @stuhirsch on Twitter, or call 640-4861.
___ (c)2018 The Herald Bulletin (Anderson, Ind.) Visit The Herald Bulletin (Anderson, Ind.) at www.theheraldbulletin.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
