Mason man killed in plane crash
Elio Abiakel was flying to the Clermont County airport from Oklahoma.
A Mason man died Wednesday night in a plane crash in southeastern Warren County.
A small airplane flown by Elio Abiakel, 42, of Mason, crashed in woods off Morrow-Rossburg Road, northeast of Pleasant Plain in Harlan Twp., according to Ohio State Highway Patrol officials.
It took several hours for emergency responders to locate the crash scene, Lt. Chuck O’Bryon of the Ohio Highway Patrol said Thursday.
Preliminary investigation indicates Abiakel told air-traffic controllers he was having trouble maintaining altitude. Investigators were still working Thursday at the scene.
Abiakel’s death was felt at Fifth Third Bank, where he worked until February.
“We are very saddened to learn of the tragic passing of one of our former Fifth Third employees. All of us at Fifth Third join in sending our heartfelt condolences and support to his family,” Laura Trujillo, spokesperson for the Cincinnati bank said in an email.
The bank confirmed Abiakel was a vice president of finance for information technology until leaving the company in February.
Abiakel’s LinkedIn profile indicated he studied at Ohio State University and was fluent in Arabic, French, Spanish and Italian. The profile said Abiakel was a certificated flight instructor and commercial pilot.
Abiakel was the only person on the plane and was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash
near Ohio 132. Abiakel died from multiple blunt force trauma, according to Doyle Burke, chief investigator for the Warren County Coroner’s Office.
The crash was reported at 10:47 p.m. near the boundary between Warren and Clermont counties. Abiakel was traveling from Oklahoma to an airport in Clermont County in a Piper Cherokee Arrow aircraft, investigators said.
Emergency crews from the Warren County Sheriff, Harlan Twp. Fire Department and other area agencies needed to use small utility vehicles to get to the site.
The National Transportation Safety Board will complete the investigation, O’Bryon said.