Overview
- Boone County Coroner named the victim as Richard C. McClung, 83, of Rockford, the plane’s sole occupant, with an autopsy citing crash injuries as the cause of death.
- The single-engine aircraft went down around 4 p.m. Saturday on Springmeadow Drive in Poplar Grove, about 1.5 miles south of Poplar Grove Airport.
- The National Transportation Safety Board identified the aircraft as a Whittman Tailwind.
- The impact damaged a fence and gas lines, prompting evacuations until Nicor Gas secured the leak, and no residents inside nearby homes were injured.
- The NTSB, FAA, and Boone County Sheriff's Department have active investigations into the crash’s cause.