UPDATE:  The Associated Press Reports:

An official with a Kansas concrete contractor has confirmed that the pilot killed in a central Nebraska plane crash was the owner of the company.

Jerry Ernzen, vice president of operations at Bottorff Construction of Atchison, Kan., says 54-year-old Mark Bottorff, of Lancaster, Kan., died in the Friday crash that also killed three others.

Ernzen, speaking Saturday for Bottorff’s family, said the three others on board were with agriculture equipment companies in Kansas and Nebraska who were doing business with Bottorff, which owned the plane.

Authorities lost contact with the plane about 10 minutes after it took off from North Platte on Friday afternoon.

Federal aviation investigators are heading to the crash site. Neither they nor local officials would confirm Bottorff’s identity. Officials also are not yet releasing the names of the others killed.

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A tragic plane crash near Maxwell has claimed the lives of four people Friday afternoon.

According to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office, the plane wreckage was located approximately 11 miles northeast of the Regional Airport at North Platte.

Federal Aviation Spokesman Elizabeth Isham-Cory reported to the Associated Press that the victim’s names are not being released until family members could be notified, and reported that the plane was a small multi-engine aircraft.

The plane reportedly took off from North Platte at 3:46pm en route to York, which is located about 170 miles east of North Platte.  Contact was lost with the plane shortly after takeoff, and a search was initiated when the it did not make it to its destination.

The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, with assistance from Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

The North Platte Post is currently gathering more details and will bring them to you as soon as they are available.