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A devastating plane crash leaves one dead at Springfield's downtown airport. KSMU's Chasity Mayes has more.
STAND UP: I’m standing outside of Springfield’s downtown airport on northeast Division. Just yards from where I’m standing a fatal plane crash occurred around 10:45 AM. Despite the crash the claimed one life planes continue to take off and land in the grassy field around the pile of rubble surrounded by yellow tape. “We did remove the remains of the one victim that died in the crash.”
That’s Springfield’s Fire Chief, David Hall. He says many questions remain unanswered about the plane crash, and that they will not be answered until the Federal Aviation Administration as well as the National Transportation Safety Board finish investigating the crash. Members from both organizations are on their way to Springfield.
Hall says plane crashes are far from common in our area.
“It’s very rare that we have a plane crash within the city limits of Springfield, and it’s been quite sometime since we’ve had one. So, this is the first to my knowledge that we’ve had out there and not to say that there wasn’t, but that’s certainly some information that they’ll be following up with out there,” says Hall.
The downtown airport generally accommodates smaller private planes and has been used to fly in political figures. Hall says three people were inside the plane when it crashed.
“There [were] three individuals in the plane. There was one fatality in the plane that died in the crash and then the other two, I think one of them was able to make it out and the other was pulled out. And we treated them at the scene and then they were transported and I know that they had some serious injuries,” says Hall.
Hall also says the fire department’s main job in the crash was to secure the scene for the FAA and the NTSB’s investigation.
For KSMU News, I’m Chasity Mayes.