7 dead in small plane crash in Kentucky

updated 5:52 p.m. ET Aug. 29, 2006

JACKSON, Ky. - A small plane crash in the wooded mountains of eastern Kentucky killed seven members of the same family: a Texas couple, their four children and a relative, an airport official said Tuesday.

No one survived the wreck Monday in an area so remote that rescue workers on all-terrain vehicles needed help from a helicopter to find it, said Buddy Rogers, a spokesman for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management.

Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta, said seven people were aboard the twin-engine Cessna that had taken off from Wichita Falls, Texas.

The pilot did not file a flight plan, but the administrator at the Wichita Falls airport said the pilot told him he was headed to Kentucky and then Virginia.

Monica Morris, airport administrator, identified the pilot as Jason Christie and his wife as Sherri Christie. The Wichita Falls Times Record News reported in its Tuesday editions that their four children ranged in age from 2 months to 15 years old.

Morris could not confirm the identity of the other relative, but the newspaper identified her as Sherri Christie's mother.

"This is a pretty small airport, and obviously when you lose a member of the airport community, it's hard, especially when children are involved," Morris said.

The plane crashed Monday afternoon in Breathitt County, 100 miles southeast of Lexington and about 10 miles from the airport near Hazard, Sims said. There was rain, thunder and light fog in the area for much of the afternoon.

The crash occurred one day after Comair Flight 5191 crashed shortly after takeoff in Lexington, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard.

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