A small airplane plowed into a flight safety center at an airport in Kansas after losing engine power on takeoff Thursday, killing at least two people, injuring at least four and leaving five others unaccounted for, officials said.
The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air reported trouble after taking off from Mid-Content Airport in Wichita around 10 a.m. ET. It hit a two-story FlightSafety International building while trying to return to the runway, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The crash sent up thick plumes of black smoke that could be seen for miles.
“There wasn’t a loud bang, there wasn’t a loud pop. It just sounded like something falling off a truck,” Jaison Podkanowicz, who says he works near the airport, told NBC News. He said he saw the airplane “just sitting on the top of the building on fire” as “black, hazy smoke” hung in the air.
Justin Camp, who works in another building at the airport, said he did not hear the crash but saw “a bunch of billowing black smoke.” About five minutes later, he drove to the FlightSafety complex. “We could see the wheels hanging off the end of the building,” he said. “There was a lot of running around and confusion.”
Two people were dead, four others were injured, and five other people were missing, said Ronald Blackwell, the Wichita Fire Chief. Blackwell said only the pilot was on the airplane and that both people confirmed dead were found inside the building.
FAA investigators were at the scene and the National Transportation Safety Board was notified of the crash.
This is a breaking news story. Please refresh this page for updates.
— Daniel Arkin, Jay Blackman and Tracy Connor
First published October 30 2014, 8:15 AM
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1tmw6Eu
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