MACON, Miss. (WTVA) -- A National Transportation Safety Report says a plane that crashed in Noxubee County in May broke up during flight.
The factual report, posted on the NTSB website, says Tracy Shirley, III, 53, of New Castle, Oklahoma was piloting the plane when it flew into severe weather.
The report says Shirley was in contact with air traffic control around 4:30 p.m. on May 31 about the weather system and an area where he might be able to fly through the storms.
Shirley also lowered his altitude from 20,000 feet to 12,000 feet to get below the freezing level and continued toward the gap in the clouds.
Around 4:50 p.m., he radioed air traffic control about altering his course to another area 10 miles north because a thunderstorm cell filled in the gap he was originally trying to fly through.
The air traffic controller acknowledged his transmission, but never spoke with Shirley after that.
The plane disappeared from radar around 4:56 p.m.
NTSB investigators say the wreckage was scattered over a 1.25 mile area near Mashulaville.
They say the investigation shows the plane broke-up in flight.
