David and Lori James were in a single-engine 2015 LancAir Evolution, which troopers described as an experimental aircraft. The company website said the planes are sold as kits.
The director of the county's emergency management association, Larry Mullins, told the Portsmouth Daily Times that the plane originated from Bellefontaine and was headed to Charleston, South Carolina at altitudes of 25,000 feet.
Mullins said eyewitnesses told him that they saw the plane lose control before crashing into the ground where explosions were heard and fire and smoke were visible. Mullins said the four-seat plane was destroyed on impact and burned up.
Fire crews had to use all-terrain vehicles to get to the crash site and the highway patrol used its plane to guide them to the wreckage.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.