LEWIS COUNTY, MO. -- Federal Aviation crews are investigating the cause of the fatal airplane crash in Lewis County that left one man dead.
We first reported to you on our News at 5 that emergency crews responded to the crash near LaBelle, Missouri at about 4:30 Thursday afternoon.
They found this single engine, homemade plane down in a field.
Seventy-one-year-old Stevens Walker of Newark died in the crash. The FAA has not released the cause or any other information. KHQA talked with several eyewitnesses to get a better idea of what went so wrong. Officials say Walker built his aircraft from a kit in his garage. Thursday, he was doing high speed test runs on the runway here at Heartland's airstrip. No one ever expected him to actually take off. Pilot Stan Rutherford said, "At last minute I saw him take off...I turned to another guy and said, 'I have a bad feeling about that.'" After he took off...Walker flew 2 and a half miles and crashed in a field. Joyce Jordan was working when she heard a strange noise. Jordan said, "It went around some trees and it just crashed and exploded." She says what she saw will be forever engrained in her mind. Investigators on the scene hope after scouring the wreckage, they can find the reason this plane went down to hopefully prevent others in the future. We wanted to know more about the pilot of the aircraft. People who knew Walker told KHQA he was an airplane enthusiast and a genuinely nice guy. Here are the funeral arrangements for Stevens Walker. The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Tuesday, November 6 at the Newark Christian Church. | 
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