One year ago today a Hawker Beechcraft Premier I private jet aborted a landing at South Bend Airport and lost control, crashing into three homes in a neighborhood adjacent to the runway. The pilot and co-pilot were killed. Two passengers and a woman on the ground were injured.
(WSBT photo)
We’re still waiting for the NTSB to conclude its investigation, which no doubt is focusing on the aircraft’s apparent loss of power and hydraulics right before it crashed. The jet was “barely controllable” moments before impact, according to ATC recordings.
I wasn't in town the day of the crash, but I covered it during the following days. What struck me most was that the aircraft did not catch fire. Somehow, the passengers and neighbors avoided the horrible inferno which often claims lives and property after a plane goes down. I asked the NTSB investigator during a press conference if he too was struck by the fact that the wreckage did not burn, and he confirmed that it is indeed remarkable.
The damaged homes have been demolished, some of the victims are still recovering, a lawsuit is pending, and many of the people affected by the crash are cutting through red tape, as my colleague Kelli Stopczynski so skillfully reported in a recent in-depth story. It’s worth your time (may not work on some mobile devices):
I wasn't in town the day of the crash, but I covered it during the following days. What struck me most was that the aircraft did not catch fire. Somehow, the passengers and neighbors avoided the horrible inferno which often claims lives and property after a plane goes down. I asked the NTSB investigator during a press conference if he too was struck by the fact that the wreckage did not burn, and he confirmed that it is indeed remarkable.
The damaged homes have been demolished, some of the victims are still recovering, a lawsuit is pending, and many of the people affected by the crash are cutting through red tape, as my colleague Kelli Stopczynski so skillfully reported in a recent in-depth story. It’s worth your time (may not work on some mobile devices):
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