Posted on 10/19/2004 8:33:51 PM PDT by xjcsa
If anyone finds info on names of those involved - I went to college there, and also lived there in elementary through junior high. I know a lot of people in town and I'm more than a little concerned.
An American Airlines Connection flight from St. Louis carrying 12 people to Kirksville, Mo., crashed near its destination about 7:30 Tuesday night, the second time in a week a jet crashed in the state.
Early reports indicated 8 of the twelve people on board the plane died, according to Elizabeth Isham Cory of the Federal Aviation Administration. There were 13 passengers and two crew members on the plane.
The flight, which she said left St. Louis at 6:42 p.m., was scheduled to land shortly after 7:30 in Kirksville. The last contact with the plane was at 7:33 p.m., she said, and there was no sign of trouble.
The plane crashed about 4 miles south of the airport there, she said.
The plane, a Jetstream 31 twin engine , was American Airlines Connection flight 5966 operated by Corporate Airlines.
On Thursday, a 50-seat jet crashed into a residential neighborhood near Jefferson City. The pilot and co-pilot were killed. No one else was on the plane and no one on the ground was injured. The cause of that crash is under investigation.
Update
Passenger count is now at 13
Crew count is 2
Total 15
At least 8 dead
2 in hospital
MSNBC and reporter at the scene: Eight know fatalities, two survivors and five still missing.
That's never a good sign...
Again, according to a local NBC reporter at the scene, one of the survivors
remembers hitting the tops of trees with no sign of problems from the pilots.
All airplanes have to be in CG.
My daughter got a call from her Mother in law. The woman who survived is my daughters husbands aunt.
See immediate post above.
Excerpt:
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) - A twin-engine turboprop commuter plane crashed in the woods about three miles from the airport where it was preparing to land, killing at least eight of the 15 people on board, officials said.
A man and a woman have been confirmed as survivors. The woman suffered a broken arm, and the man has a broken hip. Both are in stable condition at a Kirksville hospital.
Five others are still missing, said Adair County Chief Deputy Larry Logston. The American Airlines-affiliated Corporate Airlines flight from St. Louis was carrying 13 passengers and two crew members, both of whom died, Logston said.
The last communication from the Jetstream 32 indicated it was on a normal approach to Kirksville Regional Airport in northeastern Missouri, and there was no mention of any problems, said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Chicago.
Logston said the plane's flight data recorder was recovered. Emergency crews searched woods and open fields early Wednesday for the missing passengers.
Weather conditions at the time of the crash were overcast with misting and some thunderstorms in the area, according to an FAA weather observation system. It wasn't immediately known if it was storming where the plane went down or if weather was a factor.
The plane - Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 - was on a regular route from St. Louis when it crashed shortly after 7:50 p.m., Cory said.
Emergency crews reached the site about three miles south of the airport and found the fuselage engulfed in flames and largely intact, with the wings broken off but nearby, Logston said. All eight of those known dead were found in the fuselage, some still in their seats and the two crew members in the cockpit area, he said.
The plane had clipped treetops before crashing on its belly, and the wreckage was scattered over an area about one mile across, he said.
A female survivor was walking around when rescuers arrived, and a male survivor was found in brush about 25 feet from the fuselage, Logston said. Rescue crews were still hoping to find survivors, he said, but added that the two who did make it were discovered "so close to the plane we're imagining the others probably should have been close to the plane if they survived."
The survivors were being treated at Northeast Regional Medical Center in Kirksville, said Larry Rodgers, a spokesman for the hospital.
"As the physicians evaluate them, we should know more," he said.
Just looked up some info on Kirksville - no ILS approach. The best approach which comes from the south is a localizer with 400-3/4 minimums (400 ft cloud ceiling and 3/4 mi visibility). The weather at the time was 500-5; very close on the cloud deck. Another interesting thing: the procedure minimum descent altitude at 4 mile final indicates 2,500 ft which is fairly steep over that distance. My initial guess: the crew setup for a steep approach and continued below the clouds to get better forward visbility. The terrain probably rises from the airport to the crash site.
Sounds like a good guess...reminds me of the Express I Jetstream crash in Hibbing, MN, Dec. 1, 1993.
My friend Paul Talley died on the plane. Heartbreak.
I'm very sorry to hear that.
New info
Missouri Commuter Crash Raises Questions About Long Hours
http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=f0d59a77-b41f-449e-88cb-842e9fdce895&
"Flight Crew Had Been On Duty Almost 15 Hours At The Time Of The Mishap"
More new info:
Second NTSB Update On The Pinnacle Airlines Crash
http://www.aero-news.net/news/commbus.cfm?ContentBlockID=15c279ca-18a6-4bff-9a1c-e2ec1d2ffcfc&Dynamic=1
"... while the airplane was at 41,000 feet, the stick
shaker and stick pusher activated several times before
the airplane entered an aerodynamic stall. Almost
simultaneously, both engines shut down."
... and were apparently never re-started.
Thanks for the info and link...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.