YouTuber pilot and father pictured just days before deadly plane crash
A YouTube aviation star and her dad have been identified by authorities as the victims of a single-engine plane crash on Thursday.
Jenny Blalock, 45 and her father James Blalock, 78, died when Jenny’s Beechcraft 35 hit the ground by Diana Ridge Road road near Pulaski, Tennessee at around 11.15am local time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
The horror crash came just days after Blalock, known for her popular YouTube channel TNFlygirl, shared a haunting final video of the pair flying together.
According to data from Flight Aware, the pair’s final flight together departed from Knoxville Downtown Island Airport about an hour and 15 minutes before the crash.
Bill Myers, director of the Giles County Office of Emergency Management, said their bodies were discovered outside the plane, which crashed in a “remote” area that was difficult for crews to reach, WKRN reported.
Jenny had been flying the plane at the time of the crash, Myers said. Authorities confirmed The Blalocks were the only people onboard.
Speaking to WSMV, Richy Sands said: “My wife saw the plane come over and crash into the hillside over there.”
Sands said he rushed to the crash site to try and save anyone who may have survived.
“Just plane all over the place,” he told the outlet. “Just total destruction. Just parts everywhere all on up the hill. And when EMS got there, they found one person burning.”
He added: “Hate to see someone lose their life in something like that.”
The wreckage was engulfed in flames but they were quickly extinguished by emergency responders. Jenny, who also is a luxury home builder and designer, described herself on her YouTube account as a “private pilot, flying for fun in a Beechcraft debonair”.
Her channel has over 16,000 followers, with several videos on the site appearing to show Jenny piloting the plane with her father in the passenger’s seat.
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Jenny said on the channel that her father had “years of flying experience”. One video, titled: Pilot Training With My Dad, which was posted just three weeks ago shows the pair flying together and talking about all things aviation.
“I love flying with my dad. I wanted to fly the same or similar mock check ride ‘routine’ that is flown in my hometown” she wrote in the caption.
She added: “I brought my dad along to help me work out the avionics kinks.”
The Blalock family said in a statement: “We would like to thank the community for their outpouring of love and support for our family during this unimaginable loss of two precious members of our family, Jenny and Jim (Buck) Blalock.
“Our family is taking great comfort in knowing that they were together when they met our Lord and Savior!
“At this point, we are still trying to process this tremendous loss. We ask that you pray for our family in the days and months ahead.”
An investigation by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continues.
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