Three die in Waco, Texas, plane crash
Monday, December 11, 2006
Three people were killed Sunday when the small plane they were flying in crashed and exploded in a field approximately one mile north of Waco Regional Airport.
One of the first witnesses on the scene, a woman driving home to China Spring, Texas, with her family, said she saw the plane go down at about 7 p.m. Sunday.
The Waco Tribune quoted the woman as saying, “There was a big orange explosion. It lit up the whole sky. We pulled over and called 9-1-1, and my husband ran out there to see if there was anybody alive.” The woman did not give her name to the newspaper.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers said the twin-engine Cessna went down in a plowed field about 100 feet from Pioneer Parkway.
"The only portion of the plane that wasn’t charred was the tail," one trooper said.
All three victims appeared to be adults, officials said. The victims' names have not been released.
The pilot had filed a flight plan from Natchez, Mississippi. to Waco. The plane was registered to a transportation company in Texas City, Texas.
Local weather reports from the National Weather Service noted that fog limited area visibility to about 1 1/2 miles throughout the day, but officials had no information late Sunday on whether the weather played a role in the crash.
Some reports say the aircraft was on approach to Waco Regional Airport when it crashed.
Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
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