By DAVID WILLIAMS
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Hearts were heavy and the mood somber Monday morning inside Westfield High School.
“It is really hard,” said Gabriel DelGreco, an acquaintance of two teens who died in a plane crash in Kokomo on Sunday morning.
According to the Howard County Sheriff’s Office, Liam Kelly, 17, and his brother, Reece Kelly, 15, both died after the plane they were in crashed outside Glenndale Airport southwest of Kokomo. The Kelly brothers were students at Westfield High School.
As the plane came in to land, deputies say the plane hit a wooden utility pole with large high-tension power lines. That caused the plane to nosedive into a cornfield, where it caught fire. The pilot, Jerral Long, 63, also died.
A third boy, Cameron Wagler, 17, Greentown, was injured but alert and conscious to provide deputies with important information regarding the flight. Wagler told deputies he was sitting in the back of the plane. At last check, Wagler was in stable condition at a hospital.
The deaths hit students at the school hard.
“I was shocked more than anything else,” said Tyler Eubanks, an acquaintance.
DelGreco said, “Liam was really … he was really just a good person to talk to all together. He was super well-educated and well-versed on everything he said.”
“Both, very kind individuals, though,” Eubanks said.
The boys and the pilot were volunteering for the weekend at the annual Glenndale Days BBQ Bash charity event. An event spokesperson told News 8 that the people in the plane had decided to take a flight around Kokomo before things got too busy.
Eubanks said, “Him and Reece both had a pretty big passion for flying. As I can recall, they were both very much looking forward to possibly being pilots in the future.”
The boys were part of a group called The Flying Squirrels, a program designed to teach young pilots.
Joshua Andrews, the director of communications for Westfield Washington Schools, said to help with the grieving process, the Learning Center at the high school is open as a safe place for people to come process and share memories of the Kellys.