No Survivors in Plane Crash Near Tonganoxie
By Dawn Bormann and Robert A. Cronkleton, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Jun. 24–Two persons are believed to be dead after a twin-engine plane that took off from the Wheeler Downtown Airport crashed this morning in a Leavenworth County field, local airport officials said.
A road survey crew working in the area witnessed the crash. They called 911 after watching the plane sputtering as it traveled from west to northeast. The plane then dropped from the sky and crashed into the field with its nose striking the ground first, said Leavenworth County Sheriff Dave Zoellner.
Local airport officials said they were told that two persons died in the crash. Zoellner said there were no survivors, but said it was too soon to determine exactly how many people were aboard the plane.
“It looks like a plane crunched up from top to bottom. And the propellers and engine were buried down into the ground,” he said.
Investigators were called to the crash scene near Leavenworth County Road 1 and Cantrell Road near Tonganoxie, about 10:30 a.m. according to the Leavenworth County Sheriff dispatchers.
The twin-engine Aero Commander 500 was registered to Central Airlines, which has offices at the Wheeler Downtown Airport.
An official with Central Airlines said the company plans to release a statement once more is learned from the Federal Aviation Administration. An employee said the FAA informed them of the crash earlier today, and “we really know nothing except what we’ve seen on the news media here.”
The FAA arrived on the scene within hours of the crash. Officials from the FAA declined to comment on the crash other than to say the agency has investigators on site working with the National Transportation Safety Board.
Central Airlines regularly takes off from the downtown airport in Kansas City and conducts training missions and business near the Lawrence Municipal Airport, according to Lloyd Hetrick, who is the fixed based operator at the Lawrence airport.
“They fly out of downtown, and they come in here during training and use the runway and approaches,” Hetrick said.
Hetrick believes only two persons were aboard the plane. He said the Lawrence airport did not hear a distress call from the pilot. And tower officials at the Wheeler Airport wouldn’t have heard anything, said Kathleen Hefner, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Aviation Department
“They wouldn’t have called it in to our tower at the downtown airport because they would have left our airspace,” Hefner said.
Hetrick said an instructor generally accompanies pilots who need more flying time in a twin-engine plane. The company trains pilots while transporting various goods, he said.
“My guess is they were headed over here to do some training for the morning. I don’t believe they had been here yet,” he said.
Hetrick said the pilots don’t always land, but the practice allows pilots to become more familiar with the instrument procedure.
“They mostly practice the instrument approach and then they go around. They don’t actually land,” he said.
It’s too early to determine if weather played a role in the crash. However, Zoellner said some lightning and rain moved through the vicinity this morning.
Watch www.kansascity.com for updates to this story. To reach Dawn Bormann, call 816-234-5992 or send e-mail to dbormann@kcstar.com. To reach Robert A. Cronkleton, call 816-
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