Crashed plane registered to Minnesota business

A small plane that crashed in a Will County field Tuesday afternoon killed the pilot — the 74-year-old co-owner of a Bemidji aviation company.

Larry Allan Diffley, of Bemidji, Minn., was pronounced dead at 4:45 p.m. after his twin-engine Beech aircraft went down in a bean field in Manhattan Township near Gougar and Offner roads just after 2:30 p.m. Diffley was heading to the Joliet Regional Airport to pick up a passenger, according to Minnesota Public Radio, when the plane crashed, scattering a wide path of debris. The plane, a 1970 Beechcraft Baron, is registered to Bemidji Avaiation Services, a full-service facility providing fuel, maintenance, hanger rental, plane rental, flight training, car rental, pilot supplies and a pilot lounge, according to its website.

Diffley has been a co-owner there since 1970.

An employee confirmed the crashed plane came from its facility, but declined to comment further until the NTSB arrives Wednesday to begin its investigation.

No cause of death has been determined. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.