Paramedics found no survivors in the wreckage of a Lawtey plane that crashed in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Monday.
Family and friends said David Starling, his 8-year-old son Hunter Starling and his girlfriend Kim Smith were on board.
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The National Park Service said a reconnaissance flight by the Tennessee Army National Guard located the missing single engine airplane at approximately 4:43 pm on Tuesday.
The plane was found on an unnamed ridge between Cole Creek and Bearpen Hollow Branch. Paramedics on board were hoisted down to the crash site and confirmed there were no survivors.
Search crews have detected an emergency locator satellite signal from the missing plane overnight.
The search started on Monday night after the plane lost communication.
Family and friends said the plane left from Starling’s private runway on his property in Lawtey, which is in Bradford County.
The Cessna 182H was supposed to land at Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport, but never made it.
The plane’s last known contact was with air traffic controllers at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville.
The National Transportation Safety Board will be the lead in the investigation of the plane crash.
Starling’s cousin said he was the president of a timber company who loved to fish with his son. He said Hunter loved baseball.
A Lawtey convenience store owner said Hunter came into his shop every day with his father to get ice cream.
A November Facebook post from Smith shows it’s a trip they’d been planning for at least a month, with Smith expressing concern that last month’s fires would force them to cancel their Christmas vacation there.
Family friends said Smith’s son Garrett Smith arrived in Tennessee on Tuesday afternoon to join in the search for his mother.
Smith’s friends and family joined together in a prayer night on Tuesday to support one another.