Thursday, April 25, 2024
A recently married Granbury couple who reportedly were flying home from an out-of-state Thanksgiving trip died when their single-engine private airplane crashed shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4 in Cleburne.
Both of the people on board the plane — 35-year-old Will Lyons, and 30-year-old Jeanette Sue Stone (as she was listed on the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s website) — died as a result of the crash in a field off of Nottaway Drive near Hill College in Cleburne. Will’s name is listed as William Stewart Lyons on the medical examiner’s website.
A brief email to the Hood County News from Tony Molinaro with the FAA states that on Dec. 4 the plane “crashed after departing from Cleburne Regional Airport in Johnson County, Texas,” and that “Two people were on board.”
The plane was a 1963 Cessna C205 owned by John Gladych, who confirmed to the Hood County News that both Will and Sue died, which Gladych described as a “horrible tragedy.” He added that “They were much loved throughout the community.”
Gladych said that the couple were on their way back to Granbury from a visit with Jeanette’s mother in West Virginia. He noted that they had purchased Hyde Flight School, in January 2021. They had operated the school as Aviate at the Lake, LLC, until it was sold recently to someone else, and the name was changed to In the Pattern Flight School.
An online Cleburne Times-Review article stated that Cleburne firefighters responded at 8:57 p.m. on Dec. 4 after a caller reported what “appeared to be a small aircraft crash," which caught fire.
It continued, "Firefighters, upon making entry into a field near (Hill) College, located the crash site, including the wreckage of the small, single-engine airplane on the ground in flames. Firefighters extinguished the fire and were able to determine that the plane was a 1962 Cessna. Found also were two deceased bodies among the wreckage, which was distributed over a debris field of about 75 yards.”
The article added, “Rescue workers said it appears that the plane was registered in Austin and had flown from West Virginia intending to land in Granbury. DPS (Department of Public Safety) officials said the plane landed at Cleburne Regional Airport to refuel and crashed shortly after taking off.”
DPS officials took over at the scene until investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived.
