Small Plane Crashes into Office Building in Austin, Texas

News 8 Austin ^ | 2/18/2010

[sportutegrl]

News Alert, single engine plane plows into building in Austin, Texas. Building houses FBI.

[spectre]

He sure did, onyx.

[OldDeckHand]

"If a plane flies into an office building, in the middle of the day, there has to be many more dead and injured."

True, but with this recession, there's so much empty commercial real estate available, the plane may have hit an empty floor - or two.

[mnehring]

Pilot identified as Joseph Stack of Austin. Can’t really find a whole lot on him on Google.

[Moe Tzadik]

[spectre]

OOPS...so it's STATT..not Stack.

Thank you..MSNBC has been reporting stack, not STATT. Thanks again.

[TankerKC]

IRS offices, per someone at CNN

IRS fits too well with a domestic terrorist angle...CNN would push that. I don't know the area, buy Google Maps does show an FBI office near that location.

[Deo volente]

Sheryl Stack, pianist:

http://www.google.com/search?q=sheryl+stack+pianist&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[dennisw]

I wonder if he actually nailed the IRS offices?

[amom]

For the record.

AIRCRAFT DOWN
02/18/10 10:32 (AUSTIN - ) UPDATE: POLICE DEPARTMENT SEARCHING FOR TWO INDIVIDUALS, HEAVY FIRE 2ND TO 4TH FLOORS. [MAR029]
AIRCRAFT DOWN
02/18/10 10:11 (AUSTIN - ) SMALL AIRCRAFT INTO ECHELON BLGD. UNKN INJURIES, FIRE DEPARTMENT AND POLICE DEPARTMENT ON SCENE. [MAR029]

[onyx]

I am horrified that he apparently didn’t give a damn about his wife and child.

[jimbo123]

Perp was a software engineer?

[Le Chien Rouge]

I drive on that exit ramp on my morning commute...and I live on the other side of the smoke....a little tooo close to home for me..

[Fast Moving Angel]

Can't speak to planes your uncle flew, but I've found rentals to be better maintained than some privately-owned or multi-owner planes. Reason being that inspection and overhaul times are reached more quickly for highly-utilized rental planes, as inpections are triggered by engine time and/or calendar day requirements. Though subject to greater use, rental planes are also inspected more often than lesser-used aircraft.

Agreed -- I found the same thing with rented planes, except I thought they maintained them "by the book" because they didn't want to be liable for damages in the event there was an incident due to lack of maintenance.

[JFC]

MSNBC is the devil don’t watch them or give them any ratings.

[OldDeckHand]

"WHAT? A single engine outran them? "

When they're dispatched from Boulder, CO, they're going to get outrun every time. They're fast, but they're not that fast.

[LdSentinal]

There's a Sheryl Stack here, a Teaching Assistant for the University of Texas-Austin.

Sheryl Stack

[spectre]

Maybe there was going to be a bitter divorce. Ya never know..

[WaterBoard]

(CNN) — The latest news as it comes in to CNN from the scene of the crash of a small plane in Austin, Texas. (All times are ET, one hour ahead of local Austin time.)

12:38 p.m. The pilot of the plane had set his house on fire beforehand, stole the plane and crashed it intentionally, a federal official told CNN.

12:18 p.m.: Witnesses described an infernal scene that shook nearby buildings and sent fire and smoke bellowing into the sky. “I just saw smoke and flames,” said CNN iReporter Mike Ernest. “I could not believe what I was seeing. It was just smoke and flames everywhere.”

12:11 p.m.: Harry Evans of the Austin Fire Department said firefighters found “heavy fire destruction in and around the second floor ... lots of heat, lots of smoke, lots of fire.”

12:05 p.m.: Two people were transported from the crash site to University Medical Center Brackenridge, said hospital spokeswoman Matilda Sanchez. She could not provide additional information. University Medical Center Brackenridge is the only Level 1 trauma center for adults in Austin.

12:03 p.m.: Cynthia Reed, who works in the building next to the one hit, told CNN she saw people who apparently were trapped. “They were hanging out the windows, screaming for help,” she said.

12:02 p.m.: “At this time we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to criminal or terrorist activity,” said Matt Chandler, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. “We are in the process of coordinating with state officials and other federal partners to gather more information and at this time we will defer additional questions to local officials and the FAA.”

11:44 a.m.: Firefighters used two ladder trucks and other equipment to hose down the blaze at the building, which police said was located in the 9400 block of Research Boulevard. Traffic on Southbound U.S. 183, which is adjacent to the crash site, started to snarl as black smoke poured out of the seven-story building.

11:36 a.m.: A small airplane crashed into a building in Austin, Texas, Thursday morning, according to Lynn Lundsford of the Federal Aviation Administration.

[Guenevere]

I know the area....it’s a mixture of moderate highrise buildings situated right in the middle of an upscale shopping area & restaurants.

[sportutegrl]

Fox news reporting:

NTSB reports pilot may have set house on fire before crash.

NORAD launching two fighter planes.

Fox is still reporting that FBI does not think it is terrorism.

Witnesses claim seeing 30 foot fireball, debris raining down.