The aircraft that crashed south of , Illinois, on July 10, 2026, killing people, has been identified. An official accident record gives the registration as . Aircraft registry records list as a Beech 95-B55 (T42A), a twin-engine piston landplane with Continental Motor I0-470 series engines, serial number TC2152, registered in the United States. Fox News and Free Republic reported the aircraft as a .
Registry records list the registered owner as W R Aviation Inc; the owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight. No sources establishing the nature or activities of the entity could be located in the searches available, and nothing about its ownership, operations or any certifications can be reported on the evidence found.
According to Fox News, people were killed. The Monroe County Coroner's Office identified them as Jimmy Don Lewis, 48, the pilot, and his son Brayden Ty Lewis, 22, who were flying home from a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. Both outlets reported the flight took off from St. Louis Regional Airport in Bethalto for Siloam Springs Municipal Airport in Arkansas, that emergency crews were dispatched at about :34 a.m. on Friday, July 10, after reports of a possible crash south of , and that an ARCH Air Medical helicopter located the wreckage at about 7:40 a.m. in a tree line near the Columbia Quarry after low clouds, rain and poor visibility hampered the search.
The cause has not been determined. Accounts of the investigation's state differ. Free Republic reported that the Monroe County Sheriff's Department said investigators believe the aircraft departed into an area of developing severe weather, and that flight data indicates it appeared to begin a turn, possibly to avoid the inclement weather, before entering what appeared to be a descending spiral, after which radar contact was lost. Fox News reported that officials emphasized the findings released so far are and that the federal investigation remains ongoing, with the Federal Aviation Administration assuming responsibility for the crash scene while the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board continue to investigate the cause. Both outlets reported that Kelsey Lewis said an apparent glitch in the aircraft's weather-tracking system left readings about 30 minutes off. The Monroe County Sheriff's Department and Coroner's Office, the FAA and the NTSB are named as involved.
As a matter of record, the NTSB database, which begins in 2008, contains 23 other cases involving the Beech 95-B55 (T42A), of which 5 involved a fatality. That count is not a safety rate and says nothing about the cause of this accident.
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