JOHNSON COUNTY — Three Johnson County residents died in a plane crash Thursday in Michigan, and a Franklin man is fighting for his life in the hospital.
Four of the six passengers of a plane that crashed near Lansing, Michigan Thursday morning are Johnson County residents, the Clinton County (Michigan) Sheriff’s Office said.
John Lowe, co-owner of The Engineering Collaborative, an Indianapolis engineering firm, chartered the small jet, which flew out of the Indy South Greenwood Airport around 8 a.m. Thursday, to take two employees and a contractor to do a site visit in Lansing, Michigan, said Lori Lowe, John’s wife.
The plane crashed about 9 a.m. Thursday just outside the Capital Region International Airport.
John Lowe, 51, of Greenwood; Neil Sego, 46, of Trafalgar, also an employee at The Engineering Collaborative and an Indian Creek wrestling coach; and Timothy Clark, 67, of Franklin, died during the crash, according to a news release from the Clinton County Michigan Sheriff’s Office.
John Beavins, 48, of Franklin; Aaron Blackford, 42, of Frankton, also an employee of the engineering firm; and Zechariah Bennett, 27, of Plainfield, are in critical condition at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, where they were taken after the crash, the news release said.
All three remained in critical condition Friday afternoon, said John Foren, a hospital spokesperson.
It is unclear what caused the crash, but it occurred during landing, about 125 yards from the airport’s perimeter, said Spencer Flynn, a spokesperson for the Capital Region International Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating, according to an airport news release.
Lowe, 51, graduated from Center Grove High School. His wife of 28 years and 12-year-old son still live in the area, where Lowe also coached football and wrestling, Lori Lowe said.
She told John, who rarely flew for work, she had an uneasy feeling about it due to the forecast weather conditions Thursday in Michigan and to call her as soon as he landed, she said Friday morning. When he hadn’t called by 10:30 a.m., she reached out to Sam Hurt, his business partner at The Engineering Collaborative, to see if he had heard from his team.
He had not, she said.
Hurt called the company in Michigan that the engineers were flying in to do work for. They were planning to pick Lowe and his crew up from the airport, but said they never arrived, Hurt told Lori.
At that point, they knew there had been a plane crash. By 11 a.m., they knew it was the plane Lowe was on. Within hours, they knew he was dead, Lori Lowe said.
“He was not only a big guy physically — he was 6-foot-2 — he had a huge personality. I don’t believe I ever met anyone in 28 years of marriage that he couldn’t be friends with or start a conversation with,” Lori Lowe said of John.
“He was incredibly loved in the community through football and wrestling,” she said.
John Lowe was also an avid hunter, and the family has a cabin in southern Indiana, she said.
He worked for The Engineering Collaborative, which does consulting for HVAC, electrical, plumbing and lighting design, for more than 20 years. He and Hurt bought the company in 2013.
The Indiana State Wrestling Association posted the following message on social media Thursday: “Neil Sego was a coach and board member of the Indian Creek Wrestling Club. Coach Neil dedicated many years of his time to developing young wrestlers. His presence at mat side will be deeply missed by the wrestling community. John Lowe was an avid wrestling fan and supporter of the Center Grove Wrestling Club for which his son, Ben, competed,” the post said.
“The entire ISWA community sends our thoughts and prayers to the families of Neil Sego and John Lowe.”
Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers also issued a statement, which said, “We were deeply saddened to hear about yesterday’s tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
