Ga. couple on way to NC casino when plane crashed

SYLVA, N.C. — A 911 caller reported hearing a small plane’s engine failing moments before a crash that killed a Georgia couple trying to land at a western North Carolina airport.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported Friday the couple was headed to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino when the plane came down Wednesday afternoon.

The crash of the Beechcraft Sierra BE24 killed 58-year-old James David Lovins and 59-year-old Rhetta Ann Lovins, both of Vidalia, Ga.

The newspaper reported that the 911 caller said she was a pilot and lived near the Jackson County Airport, about 50 miles west of Asheville. She said the single-engine plane sounded like the pilot was trying to gain altitude, and she then heard the sound of the engine sputtering and then a loud boom.

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