Pilot split time between flying and farming

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- An Arkansas man who died when his crop-dusting plane collided with an Air Force training jet died doing something he loved.<br/><br/>Dierk Nash was killed in Tuesday's collision

Thursday, January 20th 2005, 6:23 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- An Arkansas man who died when his crop-dusting plane collided with an Air Force training jet died doing something he loved.

Dierk Nash was killed in Tuesday's collision in Tillman County in southwestern Oklahoma.

The 39-year-old Nash had only been in the air 30 minutes when the Air Tractor plane he was delivering to its new owner in South Dakota when the crash occurred.

Officials say the crash occurred about 5,000 feet up around 11:30 AM. The pilots of the Air Force jet -- Captain Christopher Otis and Second Lieutenant Roderick James -- parachuted to safety and suffered minor injuries.

Nash's father, Larry, says his son was a good pilot and was where he was supposed to be.

Larry Nash says flying has been his son's interest since Dierk Nash's mother bought him a book about airplanes when he was six years old.

Dierk Nash owned a flying service in Wheatley, Arkansas.

Dierk Nash had two teenage daughters.