A private aircraft that went down after entering a “descending spiral” Thursday night — killing a father and son returning from a baseball game — may have been affected by a malfunction in its onboard weather-tracking system, a devastated family member said.
Jimmy Don Lewis, 48, was flying a Beechcraft Baron 55 with his 22-year-old son, Brayden Ty Lewis, aboard when the plane dropped rapidly during severe weather and crashed in a remote area of Illinois.
Kelsey Lewis, who had traveled with her father and brother earlier that same day, said a problem with the plane’s weather-tracking equipment may explain why the two continued toward the storm that night, according to the Daily Mail.
Kelsey told the outlet the aircraft’s tracking software appeared to be about 30 minutes behind, potentially leading Jimmy and Brayden to believe they could “hit the gap” between the worst of the storm and a safe landing.
After departing from St. Louis Regional Airport, the plane lost contact at 10:48 p.m., and investigators believe it went down at around 11 p.m.
Kelsey said the small aircraft had been airborne for just 22 minutes before the crash.
She emphasized that her father was a seasoned pilot who would not have knowingly taken the risk of flying directly through dangerous weather.
“My dad, when it came to flying, he was very, very, cautious of everything,” Kelsey told the outlet. “Very cautious.”
Based on preliminary flight data, “the aircraft appeared to begin a turn, possibly in an attempt to avoid the storm, before entering what appeared to be a descending spiral,” the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department said.
The crash is under investigation.
The family had flown to The Prairie State earlier on Thursday so Kelsey and her fiancé could pick up a new car.
Jimmy and Brayden decided to attend a St. Louis Cardinals game before flying home to Arkansas.
Hauntingly, Kelsey said she was unusually concerned about the status of her father’s and brother’s flight as storms rolled into the region.
“That whole night, I don’t know why, but I checked the plane status for when they would take off,” she told the Mail.
When the plane failed to land in Arkansas, family members began contacting “everyone to figure out where they were” and “why the plane lost contact,” Kelsey said.
Flight tracking data indicated the plane was last seen near Waterloo, Ill. and the Lewis family started to contact local authorities.
The family alerted the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department in Waterloo, which then asked Kelsey, her mother, Jill, and Brayden’s long-term girlfriend, Payton, to come to the station.
“Down, down deep in my mom and I’s heart, when they asked us to come to the police station, we figured something wasn’t okay,” Kelsey tragically recalled.
After waiting for several hours with no answers, the sheriff broke the heartbreaking news at 10:30 a.m. that Jimmy and Brayden’s bodies were found earlier that morning.
“There was a discovery at 7:51 this morning. A plane and two deceased bodies,” Kelsey recalled the sheriff saying.
While she is still processing the loss of her father and brother, Kelsey remembers the pair as “givers” who wouldn’t think twice about helping out anyone in need.
“Neither one of them would want to see either one of us hurting,” Kelsey said.
Flying was Jimmy and Brayden’s “thing” and they received their pilot licenses together.
“My dad and brother, they were… oh, they were thick and thin, they were so close, they did everything together,” Kelsey said.
“That was their thing, they liked to fly. We’ve flown to Branson [in Missouri], we’ve flown to Hot Springs [in Arkansas] for dinner, and things like that.”
In their honor, Jill and Kelsey plan to start a Lewis Memorial Sports Scholarship at Kansas High School — where Brayden had attended and was quarterback of the football team, and Jimmy was an active member of the community.
