Heartbroken sister reveals horrifying REAL reason for private plane crash that killed her father and brother in death 'spiral' on way home from Cardinals game… and tragic last photo

By ALYSSA GUZMAN, US NEWS REPORTER Published: 23:37, 11 July 2026 | Updated: 23:53, 11 July 2026 When Kelsey Lewis left her father and brother on the tarmac of an Illinois airport as they prepared to board their private plane, she felt unusually compelled to give them both a hug. She could never have imagined that it would be her last opportunity to hold them and that in a matter of hours the experienced fliers would both be dead. Her father Jimmy Don Lewis, 48, and brother Brayden Ty Lewis, 22, were both killed on their way home from watching a Cardinals game when the Beechcraft Baron 55 aircraft Jimmy was piloting hit a patch of bad weather and plunged from the sky. Now Kelsey has told the Daily Mail their tragic decision to fly right into the heart of a storm may have been caused by a glitch in the plane's weather tracking system.  She explained that the software was 30 minutes off when they flew on Friday night, erroneously leading them to believe they would 'hit the gap' between the storm and be able to fly safely home. But as the clock struck 10.48pm the small, private plane lost contact. Police believe based on flight tracking information that the pair attempted to turn the aircraft away from the storm, but ended up in a 'descending spiral.'  As Kelsey struggles to come to terms with her loss, she is comforted by her parting display of affection and one final photograph she took with her dad and brother on their way out to Illinois. 'We took a picture, and that was, that was our last time we saw him, and our last picture together,' she told the Daily Mail while choking back tears.  Kelsey Lewis, her fiancé, and her father and brother on the way to the Midwest. Kelsey and her fiancé (back row) would drive home after picking up a new car in Missouri, while her father and brother flew back  However, Jimmy Don Lewis, 48, and Brayden Ty Lewis, 22, never made it back to Oklahoma, as they hit bad weather near Waterloo, Illinois, causing their plane to spiral, police said  The image shows Jimmy in the pilot seat, next to Brayden with Kelsey and her fiancé in the back seat on their way to Illinois.  The group had flown out together from the Lewises home in Siloam Springs near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border so that Kelsey and her fiancé could pick up a new car in Illinois. While the couple chose to drive back, Jimmy and Brayden opted to stay on to watch a Cardinals baseball game from which they ultimately never returned. The aircraft was only in the air for 22 minutes before it went down, according to Kelsey. 'Half of me wishes we would have driven, but I know that they would have flown anyway after hearing about the Cardinals game and everything else, they would have done it anyway,' Kelsey said.  Chillingly, Kelsey recalled how she was also unusually concerned with checking their flight details. 'That whole night, I don't know why, but I checked the plane status for when they would take off,' she told The Daily Mail.  Now, the photo and the hugs she gave them both will be something Kelsey treasures forever.  Kelsey (middle), her mother Jill (second right), and her brother's girlfriend Payton (far left) began calling police departments in Illinois in hopes that someone would know where their whereabouts were. They were told around 10.30am that the pair were found dead  Brayden often posted photos of his trips on his social media, including a recent one with his girlfriend Payton  'In my mind, I cherish it, because it was the last good times I had with my brother and my father,' she said.  'I told him I loved him, and I told him to please be careful,' Kelsey added of her father.   The plane was expected to land around midnight at the Siloam Springs Municipal Airport in Arkansas, where Kelsey's mom Jill waited, hoping that the plane would arrive safe and sound.  When it didn't, Kelsey, her mom and her brother's long-term girlfriend, Payton, began contacting 'everyone to figure out where they were' and 'why their plane lost contact.'  Due to flight tracking data, they knew the plane was last seen near Waterloo, Illinois.  Between 1 and 2am, they started contacting police departments and sheriff's offices, hoping someone had news of their whereabouts.  Eventually, they contacted the Monroe County Sheriff's Department to report a potential plane crash.  Sometime later, the three of them were asked to come up to the station.  Jimmy and Brayden, who went by Ty and his pictured with his niece, were only in the air for 22 minutes before getting caught in the storm, Kelsey said  Ty was very excited to be an uncle, and his six-month-old niece loved him. 'He was the one that could hold her, and I mean, she'd just lay straight out on his whole arm, because he was bigger,' Kelsey told the Daily Mail  Kelsey and her fiancé drove to the Arkansas airport to pick up their other car, and the mother-of-one took off with Payton toward the sheriff's office.  'They took us to the back room, and they said: "Okay, well, we'll wait till your mom gets here and stuff, and we can talk about things, and figure out things, do our next steps,"' Kelsey recalled.  'Down, down deep in my mom and I's heart, when they asked us to come to the police station, we figured something wasn't okay.'  An hour later, Jill arrived. Police didn't ask them any questions and said it didn't appear that they were going to go forward with an investigation, Kelsey said.  They were left to sit for hours and wait.  At 10.30am, the three women were told by the sheriff: 'There was a discovery at 7.51 this morning. A plane and two deceased bodies.'  It was news none of them wanted to receive and they are still processing it a day later.  Kelsey knows her father would never have risked flying through a storm.  'My dad, when it came to flying, he was very, very, cautious of everything,' she told the Daily Mail. 'Very cautious.'  Jimmy was an experienced flyer as the family had traveled many times on their plane. Jimmy and Brayden, who went by Ty, had even gotten their pilot licenses together.  Jimmy and Jill recently welcomed in a new grandbaby  Her dad was equally as excited for the new member of the family, as he always wanted to be a grandfather. Kelsey also said her father was an experienced flyer who wouldn't have gone out in bad weather. The aircraft's radar had shown they were going to miss the weather, she said 'My dad and brother, they were… oh, they were thick and thin, they were so close, they did everything together,' Kelsey said.  'That was their thing, they liked to fly. We've flown to Branson [in Missouri], we've flown to Hot Springs [in Arkansas] for dinner, and things like that.'  They were also both extremely excited to meet their newest family member: Kelsey's baby, who is now six months old.  Jimmy had wanted to be a grandfather for as long as Kelsey can remember – a position he 'couldn't wait' to have.  He would constantly buy the little girl toys and kids' cars.  Equally, her brother, whom she was extremely close with, was very excited about the little girl, even if he was a bit nervous to meet her, Kelsey recalled.  'He was the one that could hold her, and I mean, she'd just lay straight out on his whole arm, because he was bigger. And he wouldn't even have to say anything, when he'd walk in the room, my daughter would smile, and just be just so excited to see him,' she said.  'If he hadn't seen her in a while, she'd kind of ignore him until he picked her up, and once he picked her up, it just lit up her day, and it did his too.'  Ty, pictured with his girlfriend, also had a pilot's license and he and his dad went to school for it together. 'That was their thing,' Kelsey said Payton drove with Kelsey to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, where they waited hours to be told Ty and Jimmy were dead She remembers her father and brother as 'givers,' as people who wouldn't think twice about helping anyone and would give the shirt off their back to someone.  Her father was a successful business man who maintained rental properties and who didn't grow up with much money.  Now, in his adulthood, he gave his wealth away to anyone who needed a helping hand, Kelsey said.  He also used his financial success to better his children's lives, whether building a basketball court and a batting cage on their property to fuel their interests, or making sure he made every single one of their games.  Jimmy was active within the Kansas High School community, where Ty had attended and was the quarterback on the school's team.  Her brother was just like her father, she said as she recalled a time when Ty was young and had noticed a student in his class was being made fun of for having worn-down shoes. Instantly, Ty wanted to help.  He told his mother he had outgrown his shoes, despite everyone in the family knowing he hadn't so he could gift his shoes to the child in need. 'He said: "Mama, I'd like to give my shoes to this kid, because he keeps getting made fun of because his shoes are all torn up and everything, but I don't want him to know that I've given them to him,"' Kelsey recalled.  Kelsey and Jill plan to start a sports scholarship at Ty's alma mater in their honor. Ty was the quarterback on the Kansas High School team  Kelsey hugged both her father and brother before she drove back to Oklahoma, something she said she normally wouldn't have done So with the teacher's help, they hatched a plan to leave Ty's shoes in the student's locker.   'He was there to help and do whatever he needed to do,' she said of her brother's personality.  'He was very protective over me, very protective over me and my mom, and he's just very caring. Very, very caring,' the 25-year-old said.  'They were givers,' she said. 'Neither one of them would want to see either one of us hurting.'  In their honor, Jill and Kelsey plan to start a Lewis Memorial Sports Scholarship at Kansas High School that will go to a student on the football team who is 'kind' and 'hard-working,' she told The Daily Mail.  When asked of her favorite memories of her father and brother, Kelsey couldn't pick one.   'Honestly, at this time, knowing that they're both gone - every memory is my favorite with them,' she said.