NPS: Three dead in Smokies plane crash

Three people are dead after a plane crash in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, according to the National Park Service, which confirmed Tuesday that a single-engine plane, previously presumed missing en route to the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport, had been discovered within the park’s boundaries.

Kim Smith, 42, of High Springs, Fla.; her boyfriend, David Starling, 41; and Starling’s 8-year-old son, Hunter Starling, were aboard the plane, according to Smith’s second cousin Samantha Hodges of Jasper, Fla., who said Tuesday afternoon that the family had not heard from them since about 4 p.m. Monday. A news release from the National Park Service said the three were on board the plane and that there were no survivors of the crash.

The plane, a Cessna 182, took off from a Jacksonville, Fla.-area airport, according to Kathleen Bergen, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, and was bound for the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport, according to the park service.

The trio was traveling to the Gatlinburg area for a vacation with members of Smith’s family who already were there, including her mother and sister, according to Hodges. Stacy Patterson, Smith’s sister, declined to comment Tuesday night.

My son is my whole world and the sweetest, funniest kid ever!” said Tabitha Ritz Starling, Hunter Starling’s mother, in a Facebook message prior to news of his death. “He has a heart of gold and I just know he will be found.”

Ritz Starling could not be reached later in the evening for comment.

A news release from the National Park Service offered no details on the cause of the crash, but said the plane was found at approximately 4:43 p.m. on an unnamed ridge in the park, between Cole Creek and Bearpen Hollow Branch. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead an investigation of the crash, the release said.

Molly Schroer, information officer for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in an interview described the area where the plane was found as a “very steep area, hard to get to by foot” but said she had no information on whether it would have been a difficult area to fly through.

Weather in the park Monday nigh