New Dad and Student Killed During Flight Lesson

A dream built on the runway ended in tragedy over the weekend when a young flight instructor who had just launched his own aviation school — and the teenage student he was teaching to fly — were killed in a horrific plane crash in Mississippi.

Authorities say 29-year-old Wesley Bolden and his 17-year-old student, Jordan Hall, died after their single-engine aircraft went down near the runway at Holly Springs-Marshall County Airport on Sunday. The plane struck a large tree before bursting into flames.

Investigators have not yet determined whether the aircraft was taking off or landing at the time of the crash, and it remains unclear who was at the controls.

Bolden, a certified flight instructor, had opened his own flight school, Firecrest Aviation, just months earlier in August — a milestone he had worked toward for years. Friends and family say flying wasn’t just his job, it was his passion.

“Wes loved nothing more than flying airplanes and being with his family,” an online tribute read.

The young instructor leaves behind his fiancée, Erica Keller, and their 1-year-old daughter, Ruby.

For Jordan Hall, the flight lesson was another step toward his dream of becoming a pilot. His family says aviation was his future — and something he deeply loved.

“My baby died doing what he loved,” his mother, Jacinta Hall-Weeden, wrote in a heartbreaking Facebook post. “We went to church together Sunday morning. He dropped his girlfriend off and went to his lesson. That’s the last time I’ll ever see my baby — but I have peace.”

Marshall County Sheriff Kenny Dickerson confirmed that investigators are continuing to sift through debris from the wreckage in hopes of determining what went wrong.

“Hopefully, with their expertise, they may be able to tell us a lot more about what could have happened,” Dickerson said. “It’s absolutely devastating.”

The tragedy has left two families — and an entire community — mourning lives cut painfully short, united by a shared love of flight and dreams that never had the chance to land.