WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — For more than four decades, Sue Soderstrom combined her passion for flying with her profession as a cargo pilot.

        But an early morning crash Tuesday brought the 59-year-old Hillsboro, Ohio, woman's life to an end.

Viewing the crash scene Tuesday morning are members of the Fayette County Sheriff's Office and Washington Court House Fire Department. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

        It also set off a Federal Aviation Administration investigation into why Ms. Soderstrom's small, unloaded plane crashed in Fayette County moments after takeoff.

        Investigators spent Tuesday combing the crash scene where Ms. Soderstrom's 1959 Beechcraft Model E18S fell into a soybean field at 1:41 a.m., just southwest of Mathews Road near Washington Court House.

        Moments earlier, she had taken off from the county airport just outside town for her regular early morning flight to pick up cargo from Airborne Express' private airport just outside of Wilmington in nearby Clinton County.

        FAA investigators did not release any preliminary findings from their investigation.

        “She was a good pilot and a good person,” said Nancy Jo Esper, an assistant manager at the Fayette County Airport. “She had flown planes since she was 18 years old.”

        Fayette County Sheriff's Capt. Donald Cox said Ms. Soderstrom, who lived with her husband about 50 miles east of Cincinnati in Highland County, kept her twin-engine cargo plane at the Fayette County Airport as part of her air freight business — Northern Airmotive Corp.

        Ms. Soderstrom operated as a subcontracting cargo shipper for small air freight and regularly flew early morning runs to Airborne Express about 25 miles away.

        Capt. Cox said aviation investigators will examine the plane's “black box” for clues to the accident. He said once the plane hit the ground, about a half-mile from the airport, it skidded into a line of trees, leaving debris scattered over 300 yards.

        The broken plane was on fire when Fayette County deputies arrived. They found Mrs. Soder strom's body a few feet from the wreckage. The plane's debris path ran from south to north, indicating it had just lifted off from the county airport.

        The Fayette County coroner is investigating the cause of death, Capt. Cox said.

        Ms. Soderstrom, who lived in the 100 block of Hickory Hills Drive in Hillsboro, moved from Wisconsin to Highland County 10 years ago. For two years — 1996 and 1997 — she worked as the manager of the Highland County Airport, and in April 1997 helped aviation officials investigate the aftermath of a twin-engine Cessna aircraft crash that killed a pilot and passenger after hitting a mobile home.

        But being shackled to the ground didn't sit well with Ms. Soderstrom, Mrs. Esper said.

        “She didn't like to stay on the ground too long. She always wanted to be up in the air. Flying was her life ... her whole life outside of her family,” she said.

        Fayette County Airport manager Tom Esper praised Ms. Soderstrom as a very thorough pilot who “put a lot of money into maintaining her plane.”

        “She was a crackerjack pilot. One of the best around,” Mr. Esper said.
       

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