CNHI News Service

ADA ? A family of three died in a plane crash near Ada.

The small private aircraft apparently experienced trouble and crashed, bursting into flames near U.S. 377 and Egypt Road.

At 5:50 p.m. Sunday, the plane's pilot Harland "Brent" Stonecipher, 34, his wife Tina Lynn Stonecipher, 33, and their daughter Nichole Ann Stonecipher, 11, all of Cushing, were riding in a 1971 Cessna 310Q fixed wing multi-engine aircraft when it crashed.

According to witnesses, the low-flying aircraft starting sputtering and appeared to be in trouble. Witnesses said it looked like the plane attempted to land on the nearby highway but fell short and crashed into the grass on the shoulder. The plane caught fire and skidded several feet along the highway into a ditch.

Stonecipher is the son of Harland Stonecipher, CEO and founder of Pre-Paid Legal Inc., Ada.

Oklahoma State Trooper Alan Fortner said the plane was traveling west, apparently from the Ada Municipal Airport, when it began experiencing trouble and turned north before crashing. According to Terry Hall, Manager of Ada Municipal Airport, the facility is an "uncontrolled field" meaning that there is no control tower for pilot communications.

According to Roland Herwig, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma City,the National Transportation and Safety Board and the FAA planned to launch an investigation Monday.

ADA Evening News

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