‘All of a sudden I hear this noise,’ Single-engine plane carrying 4 people crashes in rural Illinois

TRILLA, Ill. (WCIA) – Witnesses are in disbelief after seeing what Illinois State Police are calling a fatal-plane crash. It happened in a field on the border of Coles and Cumberland County. The FAA said there were four people on board. All four were pronounced dead on scene, according to State Police.

It happened off of East Trilla Road near Church Street in Trilla, about ten miles south of Mattoon. The scene was chaotic with lights flashing everywhere. Everything from electrical trucks — to police cars — and ambulances were on the scene, trying figure out what happened.

“I go out to our sunroom, and I look and there’s a huge pile of smoke,” Kynnedi Goldstein said.

The FAA said on Saturday, just after 10:00 in the morning, a single engine aircraft crashed in a field in Trilla. Goldstein lives in the house closest to the crash site. She was about to sit down and watch TV when she heard a loud boom.

“There was a big amount of, like dark smoke at first,” Goldstein said. “And then after that, we got up closer. There’s just debris everywhere. You couldn’t even tell it was a plane at all.”

The National Transportation Safety Board — or NTSB — said their initial investigation suggests the plane flew into powerlines before hitting the ground.

“Our power went out for a second and then our generator kicked on,” Goldstein said. “One of my friends lives here in town and their power is not back on yet.”

Officials said the Cessna 180 had four people on board at the time of the crash. They said the NTSB will be handling the investigation and providing updates as they find out more information. An investigator is expected to be at the site Sunday to analyze the crash site and plane. The NTSB said they’ll be gathering recordings of air traffic control communications, available surveillance video and more to find out what happened.

“Just being there and then just seeing that for yourself is just such so devastating,” Goldstein said.

We may have to wait for the full story of what happened… NTSB said a preliminary report will be available within 30 days. WCIA will update you as we learn more.