MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL
a division of the
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Troop D Headquarters - 3131 East Kearney Street - Springfield, MO 65803
News Release
For further information please contact:
Sergeant Jason M. Pace
(417) 895-6868
D72018
May 22, 2018
EMPHASIS:
Plane Crash In Polk County
At approximately 9:18 a.m., on May 22, 2018, Troop D Headquarters received a report of a small aircraft that had crashed approximately three-quarters of a mile south of the Bolivar Municipal Airport, in Polk County. Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, and surrounding emergency rescue personnel responded to the area and located a 2007 Zenith 601 single-engine airplane crashed in a wooded area on the Silo Ridge Golf Course.
The pilot of the aircraft was transported by ambula
nce to Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar, where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 10:38 a.m. The pilot has been identified as James Donald Baker, 87, of Bolivar.
It is unknown at this time what led to the crash. Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration will be on scene today to conduct a complete investigation.
(###)