By By ROBERT BLANKENSHIP – Managing Editor
A former Brewton resident and graduate of T.R. Miller High School was killed Tuesday after the helicopter he was in crashed to the ground.
Daniel Lee Ewing Jr., 28, was a resident of New Road, La. He was born in Louisiana, but grew up in Brewton and graduated from T.R. Miller in 1993.
Ewing was a licensed pilot having graduated from Sowell Aviation in Pensacola and Ag-Flight in Bainbridge, Ga. He was flying a helicopter along with one passenger, Norman Marshall Edwards, 49, of Oklahoma City, when the aircraft crashed in Ardmore, Okla. According to the Daily Ardmoreite, both men were dead at the scene when officials arrived at 7:11 p.m.
The Ardmoreite reported that Ewing was flying a 1969 Bell-Shelby Aero helicopter that was registered to Versatile Aviation, Inc.
The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the accident. The Ardmoreite reported that early evidence indicates that there may have been engine failure.
While funeral services were held Friday in New Roads at 11 a.m., a memorial service was also being held at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Brewton.