Report: Pilot Correcting Course when Plane Crashed

CHESTER, Ark. (AP) — The pilot of a small airplane that crashed earlier this month in Arkansas told air traffic controllers that he was trying to correct his course after the aircraft got caught in some wind, a preliminary report said.

All four people aboard the Cirrus SR22 died when the plane crashed in rural northwest Arkansas on Sept. 4. All were members of an Oklahoma family who were traveling from Muskogee to Pickens, South Carolina.

The pilot, Kevin Herron, told air traffic control that he wanted to return to Muskogee because of weather, but the plane began descending rapidly and radio contact was lost, according to a preliminary report issued last week by the National Transportation Safety Board.