NTSB air safety investigator Todd Fox examines the tail section of the Cessna 414A that crashed early Tuesday morning in Bloomington, Ill.

Eureka man among plane crash victims. Longtime Eureka businessman Scott Lee Bittner, 42, is being remembered by friends and colleagues as a generous community leader and devoted family man. Bittner’s funeral was held early Saturday evening at Eastview Christian Church, in Normal.

“We are deeply saddened at the loss of Scott Bittner,” Eureka Mayor Scott Punke said in a statement. “He was a well-respected member of the Eureka business community. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends during this very difficult time.”

Mr. Bittner, who owned Bittner’s Eureka Locker Inc. since 1994, was among seven individuals who died when the twin-engine Cessna 414 they were riding in crashed just north of the Bloomington-Normal Airport early Tuesday morning.

Also killed were Aaron Leetch, 37, deputy director of athletics for external operations at Illinois State University (ISU), and Torrey Ward, 36, associate head coach of the ISU men’s basketball team, Terry Stralow, 64, co-owner of Pub II in Bloomington-Normal, Andy Butler, 40, of Normal, Jason Jones, 45, of Bloomington, and Thomas Hileman, 51, of Bloomington. Hileman has been identified as the pilot of the plane, which was owned by Bittner.

The group was returning from an NCAA Basketball Championship in Indiana. Bittner’s father-in-law, Scott Barrow, a former clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center, told the Chicago Tribune that Bittner had received a call from Stralow on Monday morning, saying he had an extra ticket to the basketball championship and asking if Bittner wanted to attend.

The plane left Indianapolis around 11 p.m. Monday evening and apparently encountered foggy conditions over central Illinois, according to a statement from the McLean County Sheriff’s Office.

Peoria air traffic control notified the Bloomington-Peoria Airport Authority that it had lost contact with a private plane at about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday. Airport Authority personnel responded to the Central Illinois Regional Airport to determine if the plane had landed, according to the sheriff’s office.

The plane was discovered three hours later in a field northwest of the intersection of Illinois Rt. 9 and McLean County Road 2100 East. All seven individuals were pronounced dead at the scene.

Airport authorities said that although the airport tower closed at 10 p.m., the airport itself was open. While conditions were foggy when the plane went down, it has not yet been confirmed if the weather was a factor. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are conducting an investigation into the cause of the crash. A preliminary report is expected to be released next week, Peter Knudson, of the National Transportation Safety Board, said on Friday.

Employees of Eureka Locker Inc. could not be reached for comment Friday. The company website noted that Bittner, as company owner, preferred to work “side by side with his employees” as a co-worker as well as owner.

Bittner leaves behind a wife, Carrie, and two children, Ella, 12, and Hayden, 10.