Autopsies planned in central Ill. plane crash

RANTOUL, Ill. — Autopsies are scheduled later in the day for three people killed in a fiery plane crash in central Illinois.

Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup tells The News-Gazette newspaper in Champaign that autopsies will be conducted Monday.

Friends have told the newspaper that the victims are a Champaign family, a married couple and their teenage daughter who is a college student.

A Federal Aviation Administration official says the single-engine airplane went down on Sunday shortly after takeoff at the Rantoul Airport about 125 miles southwest of Chicago.

Rantoul Police Chief Paul Farber says severe weather was rolling into the area at the time of the crash.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.