Wealthy steel magnate and family killed when their plane crashed in Ohio moments after takeoff

( NYPost )

A wealthy steel magnate and his family were the victims killed in a plane crash in Ohio — after their twin-engine aircraft went down just minutes after taking off for their vacation to Montana.

James “Jim” Weller, 67, owner of Liberty Steel Industries Inc; his wife Veronica, 68; their son John, 36; and daughter-in-law Maria, 34; were traveling to Bozeman, Montana when the Cessna they were traveling in suddenly went down, WMFJ reports.

The pilot, Joseph Maxin, 63 and co-pilot, 55-year-old Timothy Blake, were also killed when the plane crash just seven minutes after taking off from Youngstown Regional Airport on Sunday just before 7 a.m.

The aircraft went down around two miles west of the airport in the backyard of a home in a heavily wooded area.

The crash was described as the deadliest in the area’s history by Howland Township Fire Chief Raymond Pace.

First responders struggled to reach the crash site due to the dense woods, but were eventually able to recover all six bodies.

Residents reported hearing a thunder-like explosion and seeing a thick cloud of smoke.”It sounded like a bomb,” one local resident, Sarah Thompson, told the Times Leader.

“I thought there was a storm and then two more pops of thunder-like sound,” neighbor Rachel Flowers, who was woken up by the crash, told 19 News.

Sunday’s crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with emergency crews describing it as a miracle that there were no further casualties on the ground.

“This is a devastating blow to our community. That no homes were hit is a small mercy in this tragedy,” Chief Pace said.

Emergency crews, including Howland police and fire, the Trumbull County HazMat Team, Youngstown Air Reserve Station fire crews and a Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency drone unit were deployed to the hard-to-reach site.

Aerial surveys were carried out on Sunday and Monday using drones to map the area and monitor for fuel runoff or any other environmental hazards.

The crash comes just under a year after a similar deadly incident at the same airport.A twin-engine plane attempting an emergency landing killed three people on July 19, 2024, en route from Laval, Quebec.

James Weller’s father founded Liberty Steel in 1965, growing it from a steel service center into a major regional supplier.

The family was popular among the Sharon Speedway racing community in Hartford, which posted a statement on social media saying it was “deeply saddened” by the news.

“James won 36 times in the Big Block Modified division at Sharon Speedway and was a two-time track champion. His late father, Jim Weller Sr. co-owned Sharon Speedway from 2002-2024,” the statement read.

Maxin, the pilot, was highly experienced and was also the former assistant prosecutor for the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office.

“These were the best of the best in terms of the folks here at the field as well as the pilots and can’t say enough about them and give anything to rewind the day and take them to breakfast instead,” aviation expert Mike Hillman told News 19.

The NTSB is yet to reveal the cause of the crash during its initial investigation, and a preliminary report is expected by the end of July.

The Federal Aviation Administration is assisting in the investigation, as per standard protocol.