 Emergency officials say three people are dead after a plane crashed in McDowell County on Monday. Will Keeler is emergency services director for McDowell County and said the plane was traveling from Tennessee to Rutherford County in North Carolina. At 545 a.m., the McDowell County 911 center was notified by the Rutherford Regional Airport of an overdue plane. Emergency crews were immediately dispatched, but once crews were in the wilderness area, they quickly located the downed aircraft.