"Jay" King flies west

It was their 162, N162KG. One of the controllers said he was complaining of chest pains before he went down. RIP
 
There was a lot of initial speculation of suicide. Initial reports from folks claim to have seen it go "straight in". Later it was found out that he had managed a mayday call to ATC for chest pain and trouble breathing. He was having problems finding the airport and ATC was trying to get him there on a vector and supposedly had an ambulance en-route to meet him on the ground. He never made it back.

Unfortunately there are no LiveATC feeds for Memphis Approach, so I am relying on what I have heard from friends and friends of friends who work ATC in Memphis.

Very sad day for the Memphis aviation community.
 
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Thanks for the updates/corrections, guys. I had flown with Jay years ago, rented airplanes from him and hung out at the airport. Sad day for Downtown Aviation.
 
Thanks for the updates/corrections, guys. I had flown with Jay years ago, rented airplanes from him and hung out at the airport. Sad day for Downtown Aviation.
He was definitely a prominent figure in the local aviation community. Big loss
 
Email sent out earlier,

Greetings Downtown Aviation family,

As some of you have may have heard, yesterday we had a tragic accident involving a Downtown Aviation aircraft. Unfortunately our owner, Jay King, perished in that accident. We are shocked and heartbroken at Jay’s untimely death. We are very thankful for the calls and emails of support during this difficult time.

Effective immediately we are on a safety stand down until at least Monday the 6th. Clients that were already booked should have been contacted for cancelation. We will keep everyone up to date as we get information and plans going forward. At this time we are planning on resuming operations shortly.

Jay touched a lot of people in the aviation community. This is especially true here in the Mid-South region. Dewitt-Spain airport has been a second home to Jay for the last 19 years where countless pilots have come to learn to fly. Jay made the aviation community a better place through his kindness and generosity and for that we should all be thankful. Please keep Jay’s family in your thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

The Downtown Aviation Staff
 
Prayers for Jay's family. He will be missed.
 
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