Tommy-the-Greek Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 I am going to go try to find something on this and post it. So far 21 dead. Commuter Plane Crashes; 21 Killed Wednesday, January 08, 2003 CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A commuter plane crashed into a hangar at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport Wednesday, killing all 21 people aboard. "The plane is so destroyed there's not much to see," said spokesman Keith Bridges. "The debris is in such bad shape." Nineteen passengers and two crew members were on board, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said. Police spokesman Keith Bridges said two people on the ground also were unaccounted for. "We don't know the extent of the injury or the damage," Brown said. The FAA identified the plane as Air Midwest Flight 5481, a Beech 1900 twin-engine turboprop departing for Greenville-Spartanburg. It crashed as it was taking off in clear weather at about 8:45 a.m. Brown said the FAA did not know if the pilot reported any trouble to the tower. The Associated Press contributed to this report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy-the-Greek Posted January 8, 2003 Author Share Posted January 8, 2003 Plane crashes, 19 aboard, in North Carolina Police: 'At this time we have no survivors' Wednesday, January 8, 2003 Posted: 9:56 AM EST (1456 GMT) Smoke rises from a hangar at Charlotte-Douglas International after it was struck by an Air Midwest commuter plane. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Story Tools -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RELATED • Interactive: The Beech 1900 CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) -- A US Airways Express commuter plane with 19 people on board crashed on takeoff into a hangar Wednesday at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina and police said they believed there were no survivors. A police spokesman said authorities could not account for two ground workers at the hangar. "At this time we have no survivors and we may have a couple of other folks who are missing, we're still trying to do an assessment of that," said Charlotte police spokesman Keith Bridges. "It's a horrible scene. It's just horrible." Conditions were clear, cold and windy at the time of the crash, with visibility of more than 10 miles. Plumes of gray smoke could be seen rising from a hangar. The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was Air Midwest Flight 5481 and was on its way to the Greenville-Spartanburg Jetport in South Carolina. The plane struck the side of the hangar. A wall of the hangar was covered with black smoke. The FAA said the aircraft is a Beech 1900, a turboprop aircraft. The airlines' Web site says it operates as US Airways Express/Air Midwest. (Aircraft details) The crash comes after a year in which there were no commercial airline fatalities in the United States, federal officials said. (Full story) The airlines' hub is in Kansas City, Missouri. The plane's owner, Air Midwest, currently operates a fleet of 36 such aircraft, with 29 of them in service with the US Airways Express division, according to its Web site. Headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, Air Midwest also has hubs in Kansas City; Tampa, Florida; Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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