At Least Four Dead in Small Plane Crash at Kansas Airport - East Idaho News
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At Least Four Dead in Small Plane Crash at Kansas Airport

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103014 WichitaCrash?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1414685140392Jaison Podkanowicz(WICHITA, Kan.) — Four people are dead after a prop plane crashed into a building Thursday morning at an airport in Wichita, Kansas, officials said.

Five others have been rushed to a local hospital, fire marshal Brad Crisp said more than three hours after the crash.

“We don’t know what may have caused the incident,” Wichita Fire Department Chief Ron Blackwell said, noting that responders faced a “horrific firefight for several minutes.”

The plane struck the top of the Flight Safety Building at Mid-Continent Airport shortly before 10 a.m. and approximately 100 people were inside at the time, according to airport officials.

Federal officials have confirmed that the incident is not related to terrorism.

The plane involved in the crash was a twin-engine Beechcraft that was taking off but lost power in one engine, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Keith Rose, the CEO of Rose Aircraft Services Inc., which owned the plane, confirmed that the pilot was one of the fatalities. He was the only person on board. The three other fatalities were all individuals in the building, which housed Cessna Citation Jet Simulators.

Rose said that the plane was headed to Mena, Arkansas, “for painting and interior refurbishing work.”

Airport officials reported on their Twitter feed that the building sustained serious damage with collapsed walls and ceilings. Smoke could be seen billowing from the building from miles away immediately after the crash.


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