Who was Knoxville Youtuber Jenny Blalock and who was her father James?
JENNY Blalock was a YouTuber known for her love of flying planes and making aviation videos.
Jenny and her father James were tragically killed in a plane crash in a remote part of Tennessee on December 7, 2023 — here we take a look at who they were and what happened.
Who was Knoxville Youtube Jenny Blalock?
Jenny Blalock, 45, was a social media personality who made videos about piloting planes.
She ran the YouTube account TNFlygirl, which has 16,400 subscribers at the time of writing, and went by the Instagram handle 865flygirl, with 2,129 followers.
Her bio on Instagram says she was the owner of two businesses — Luxe Homes and Design and Plantation Reclaimed.
Who was Jenny Blalock’s father James Blalock?
James Blalock, 78, was Jenny’s dad and “best friend”.
He also went by Jim and the nickname Buck.
Jenny’s devastated partner Brett Thees wrote on Facebook: “Jenny and her dad were not just daughter/father, they were best friends and did EVERYTHING together!”
Other than appearing in his daughter’s videos, James stayed out of the limelight and there isn’t much information available about his life and career.
What happened to Jenny and James Blalock?
Jenny and James were killed in a plane crash on December 7, 2023 over a remote part of Tennessee, which rescue services struggled to access.
The pair were killed when Jenny’s Beechcraft 35 smashed into the ground near Pulaski at around 11.15am.
Their bodies were found next to the single-engine plane close to the Alabama border.
Flight data indicates they had travelled 180miles from Knoxville when their aircraft plummeted to the ground only 10miles short of the nearest airport landing.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
The tragedy struck days after Jenny shared a final video of her happily flying with her father.
And just a month ago she posted a video of her having to perform an emergency landing due to an “aircraft malfunction” at 4,000ft.
“Are we going to make it?” she chillingly asked her flight instructor after discovering that the plane’s battery had died mid-flight.
The aviation influencer remained calm and managed to land the plane safely.
“It’s never happened to me before,” Jenny later told her subscribers.
“It was just devastating,” Bill Myers, director of the Giles County Office of Emergency Management, told 10 News. “Unfortunately, there were just no survivors.”
The Blalock family said in a statement: ‘We would like to thank the community for their outpouring of love and support for our family during this unimaginable loss of two precious members of our family, Jenny and Jim (Buck) Blalock.
“Our family is taking great comfort in knowing that they were together when they met our Lord and Savior!
“At this point, we are still trying to process this tremendous loss. We ask that you pray for our family in the days and months ahead.”