BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana State Police is investigating a plane crash that killed a pilot in Monroe County Dec. 17.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane was a single-engine Piper PA-32 that went down around 8:10 p.m. The impact caused the plane to catch on fire.
The Monroe County Coroner's Office identified the deceased as 40-year-old Adam Clark, of Bloomington, and said his preliminary cause of death was due to blunt force trauma. A pending toxicology test will determine the official cause of death.
Investigators said the pilot was the only person on board.
The plane was flying from Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport on 96th Street to Monroe County Airport in Bloomington.
The plane crashed in a wooded area near Tower and Ison roads, on the southwest side of Bloomington, west of Interstate 69 and east of State Road 45. The crash site is about three miles south of the Monroe County Airport.
Troopers responded to the scene of the crash after receiving numerous 911 calls to Monroe County emergency dispatchers. They arrived to find the single-engine, fixed-wing plane on fire. Firefighters from the Van Buren Fire Department put out the fire.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were notified of the crash and took over the investigation from ISP when they arrived in Monroe County. The FAA will ultimately make any determinations about what might have caused the crash.