Two Fatally Injured In Valentine's Day Accident

A couple from Florence, MS was fatally injured Friday night when the Cessna 210 they were aboard went down near Birmingham Shuttlesworth Airport in Alabama.

Television station WAPT reports that air traffic controllers lost contact with the Cessna when it was about 13 miles northeast of the airport. Authorities searched "several hours" for the wreckage of the airplane before it was located in a wooded area near Goodner Mountain in Trussville, AL.

Investigators say the plane was circling looking for a place to land, but did not indicate why the pilot, Allan Campbell, did not proceed on to the airport. The other person on board was his wife Calli Campbell.

The couple's family said they were flying to Louisiana for a "romantic Valentine weekend," but Campbell's employer had asked him to pick up a client in Birmingham. Campbell reportedly often used his airplane for business purposes, and his wife regularly accompanied him on such trips, the station reported.

The couple had reportedly made a stop in Jackson, MS and were continuing on to Birmingham when the accident occurred.

(Cessna 210 pictured in file photo. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov