MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL
a division of the
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Troop B Headquarters - 308 Pine Crest Drive - Macon, Missouri 63552
NEWS RELEASE
For further information please contact:
Sergeant Eric F. Brown
(660) 385-2132
July 28, 2017
B17056
EMPHASIS:
Plane Crash In Ralls County
On July 27, 2017, at approximately 11:24 p.m., Troop F Headquarters in Jefferson City, Missouri, received a request from the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center to assist with locating a missing aircraft they were attempting to locate. The aircraft had recently taken off from the Mexico, Missouri airport with a destination of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center provided a GPS location in rural Ralls County for troopers to check.
Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Ralls County Sheriff’s Office, Ralls County Ambulance District, Perry Fire Department, and Ralls County first responders began checking the area. On July 28, 2017, at approximately 12:56 a.m., emergency personnel located a 2003 Zenith 701 single-engine airplane crashed in a soybean field approximately six miles northwest of Laddonia, Missouri.
Both occupants of the aircraft were pronounced dead at the scene by Ralls County Coroner Robert Van Winkle. The occupants have been identified as Bobby Faulkner, 41, and Shannon Faulkner, 41, of Greenwood, Arkansas. It is believed Bobby Faulkner was the pilot of the aircraft.
At this time, it is unknown where the aircrafts flight plan originated. Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration will be on scene July 28, 2017, to conduct a complete investigation.
(###)