tags: Kansas, Witchita, air incident, possible suicide, not terrorist, general aviation, multiple incidents at this airport
4 killed 5 injured 4 missing October 30, 2014 4 killed Plane loses power, crashes into building at incident-prone Witchita airport Mark Goldstein ID as Dead Pilot Twin-engine Beechcraft King Air, crashed and caused a fire in a building that FlightSafety International uses to train pilots. The FAA said it crashed after reporting losing left engine power and trying to return to the airport. There were no indications so far that the pilot tried to avoid the building. A lightly loaded plane can fly on one engine with no problem. Investigators found the plane underwent two maintenance flights before takeoff and was not malfunctioning in any way. Federal immediately established the incident was not related to terrorism.
Red flags:
- good pilot
- good plane
- plane can be flown on one engine
- no attempt to avoid building
- suicide?
The crash is the latest in a string of incidents at the airport. In December, an avionics technician was arrested after a months-long undercover sting when he allegedly tried to drive a van filled with inert explosives onto the tarmac in a plot prosecutors say was intended to kill as many people as possible. Then in January, an Oklahoma man rammed his pickup truck through a security gate at the airport. In September, the airport conducted a large-scale disaster exercise featuring the mock crash of a 737 aircraft. FBI is not ruling anything (including terrorism) out? Huffington Post files it as crime. Comments: . Never make an abrupt turn back to the airport because the unsymmetrical thrust makes a stall very likely You are speculating without the facts. The plane just had maintenance done and the abrupt turn could have resulted from a variety of mechanical failures, not just a bad reaction to an engine failure. Also, this was a twin engine plane that should have been capable of landing on the one engine. At least four people who were inside the building at the time of the crash were killed, ... five others were injured and that four people were still unaccounted for as of early Thursday afternoon. The pilot was the only person on board the small plane when it crashed, but the extent of his injuries is unclear, according to KAKE. ABC News Federal officials have confirmed that the incident is not related to terrorism.
"Goldstein was an experienced pilot who had logged 3,000 hours of flight time as of Aug. 4, the NTSB said. He worked as an air traffic controller for 24 years at the Wichita control tower before retiring earlier this year."
*Sources
Plane That Crashed Into Kansas Building Showed No Issues: NTSB NBC News October 31, 2014 The small plane that crashed into a Kansas building Thursday underwent two maintenance flights before takeoff and wasn’t malfunctioning in any way, investigators said Friday. All three witnesses said the plane drifted to the left before the plane took a “steep” left turn and hit the building shortly after takeoff, Lindberg said.
NTSB preliminary report - Wichita Eagle
www.kansas.com/news/local/article3596912.html
The Wichita EagleNov 6, 2014 - Firefighters work the scene of a plane crash Oct. 30 at the FlightSafety training ... investigating the fatal plane crash Oct. 30 at Wichita Mid-Continent Airportsays it ..... The right engine was at full power, the witness said. ... It usually takes more than a year for the NTSB to issue a final report on fatal crashes.
The pilot, who was contracted to take the plane to Mena, Ark., was killed along with three people inside the building. Six people were injured in the crash, including two seriously, according to the report.
One minute and 11 seconds elapsed between the time the plane departed the runway and the pilot, Mark Goldstein, radioed to the air-traffic control tower that he was declaring an emergency and had lost his left engine.
Witnesses said the aircraft made a left turn after the takeoff and estimated its altitude was less than 150 feet. One witness reported hearing a “reduction in power on one engine” before the left turn.
A witness who saw the plane from about 20 yards away said the aircraft was in a left turn as it approached the hangars east of the FlightSafety building. The wings were level as it flew west of the building and the landing gear was “down and locked,” the flaps were extended and the rudder was neutral. The right engine was at full power, the witness said. As the plane disappeared from his view, he heard the sound of an impact.
Another witness told investigators that the plane was in a “gradual” descending left turn. He thought the plane was going to land on the west runway, but it hit the northeast corner of the building. there were two maintenance test flights prior to Goldstein flying the plane.
plane's left engine struck the building first just below the roofline, followed by a section of the left wing. When the wing hit, it separated from the plane. The nose then struck the roof and the plane slide for 20 to 30 feet before the tail section came over the top, followed by a large explosion.
Six eyewitness have reported that a small plane drifted to the left side of the runway after taking off from a Kansas airport, then made a steep left bank before crashing into a flight training facility
There are no indications so far that the pilot tried to avoid the building, Lindberg said.
Plane crashes into Flight Safety building at KICT FlightAware FlightAware Oct 30, 2014 - Looks like a King Air has crashed into the Flight Safety building inWichita. ... I would have to pull out the official beech checklist to be sure but the flight safety checklist I have ... A lightly loaded 200 can fly on one engine with no problem.
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