Plane down in Kalamazoo (not WMU)

SteveC

SteveC

"Laconic"
Staff member
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/kalamazoo_and_battle_creek/plane_crash_in_portage

PORTAGE, Mich. (WOOD) - A small plane crashed Tuesday morning into a parked car near the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

Airport officials told 24 Hour News 8 one person was aboard the aircraft.

Officials say the crash occurred just before 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Western Michigan University College of Aviation on Kilgore Road, east of Portage Road.
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Re: Plane down in Kalamazoo - WMU???

Reporting now that it is not a WMU aircraft. One person onboard.
 
http://www.wwmt.com/news/mich-1368634-closed-newschannel.html

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A plane has crashed at the Kalamazoo Battle Creek International Airport.

It happened in the 2200 block of East Kilgore Road which is closed as of 11:00.

The plane crashed in a parking lot.

The police and fire presence has ratcheted down on East Kilgore Road but there are still a number of emergency services personnel and investigators on the stretch of road that has been closed since just before 9:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.

What is left of the plane can be seen resting in the parking lot of Great Lakes Aviation. The crash killed the pilot.

According to authorities the plane was trying to take off from the airport en route to Muskoka, Ontario when it experienced some mechanical problem and then crash landed at the north end of the runway. It burst through the security fences and then came to a halt in the parking lot.

Kalamazoo Public Safety say the plane did catch fire and was on fire for a few minutes, but it was quickly extinguished.

Authorities are not sure what exactly killed the pilot but they have not removed the body as of 11:00.

"What the initial report is, and what we're finding based on the scene is that the pilot crash landed just north of the airport, so not actually on the runway, and then skidded into the parking lot through one of the security fences and then stopped just south of the road," said Assistant Police Chief of KDPS Brian Uridge.

The pilot was the only person on board. The single engine Beechcraft is not a Western Michigan University plane and does not belong to Great Lakes Aviation either.

The road remains closed and authorities are waiting on the FAA and the NTSB.

Planes have been seen taking off and landing at the airport, so there appears to be no significant impact on service.
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This is horrible. I flew out of AZO almost every day for the last two years and just recently moved away. It's so much different when it's a person or even a place that you know well. RIP.
 
updated story:

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – A plane crashed at the Kalamazoo Airport Tuesday, killing the pilot.

The pilot was attempting to take off around 8:30 Tuesday morning, but ended up going down near the 2200 block of East Kilgore Road. The plane came to rest just north of the airport's runway.

Investigators say the plane was headed for Canada, and now are trying to figure out why it went down and burst into flames.

According to authorities, the plane had taken off, but just as it took flight, mechanical problems forced the plane down, which came crashing through the fence that rings Great Lakes Aviation. Newschannel 3 has also learned that the plane had just gotten an inspection before it took off from Kalamazoo.

"It appears the plane had lost power, it banked sharply to the right after takeoff and then crashed just north of the field," said Asst. Chief Brian Uridge of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety.

The plane, which is registered in Canada, was on its way to Ontario from Kalamazoo when it suffered some sort of mechanical problem. The pilot of that plane managed to avoid the road and bring the plane to a stop in the parking lot at Great Lakes Aviation. He had crashed into a fence, and the plane was burning.

Authorities say that staff at Great Lakes Aviation tried to put out the fire and pull the pilot from the wreck, but the flames were simply too intense. Three vehicles on the ground were damaged by fire.

"As the plane skidded across the parking lot, the initial investigation, there appeared to be fuel that came from the plane onto the back of the cars, ignited the cars," said Uridge.

Kalamazoo Public Safety says the pilot had actually just picked up the plane from being repaired or inspected, taking off when the work was completed. It's clear from witnesses that something went terribly wrong right after takeoff.

"He just came around the building an tipped his wing," said witness Kathy Leach, "he must have looked forward and thought 'whoa, I'm either going to hit the road or I can see 94 over there.'"

The FAA arrived on the scene of the crash around 10:30 Tuesday morning and the NTSB arrived Tuesday afternoon from Chicago to investigate the crash.

Late Tuesday, Kalamazoo Public Safety identified the pilot killed in the crash as 60-year-old James George Wilton of Ontario, Canada.
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Adler said:
It sounds like he had engine troubles on takeoff and tried to circle back to the runway. I'm sure I'll hear more as it's made available.
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The descriptions that I heard sounded like he was trying to pick out a place more or less straight ahead, with a little turn at the end to try to get into a parking lot. Didn't sound to me like he was trying to return to the field.

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/kalamazoo_and_battle_creek/plane_crash_in_portage

PORTAGE, Mich. (WOOD) - A pilot was killed after a single-engine plane crashed into a parking lot in Portage Tuesday morning.

The victim has been identified as 60-year-old James George Wilton of Ontario, Canada.

The Michigan Department of Transportation says the crash occurred at around 8:45 a.m. near a building on Kilgore Road, east of Portage Road, northeast of the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport.

Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety officer Christopher Reiser was on his way to work when he and several witnesses saw the single engine Beechcraft shortly after take off.

"It was an abnormal sight to me to see a plane flying so low," Reiser told 24 Hour News 8. "It was so low to the ground. You could just see it over the tops of the buildings and it kind of canted itself to the side toward the east and it made kind of a drop in altitude as it went over the buildings. Just wasn't normal for a plane that was taking off or landing."

Reiser kept watching until the plane dipped so low it disappeared behind some buildings.

"About four or five seconds after I lost sight of the plane I saw the large plume of smoke," he said.

Another witness told 24 Hour News 8 he watched the Beechcraft Bonanza A36 plane struggling to gain altitude as it took off from the airport.

"The engine was popping and smoking," said the witness, who declined to be identified. "It made it to the fence (at the airport's north end), banked to the right and crashed nose first to the ground."

The witness said it appeared the pilot was trying to land in a parking lot at a building that used to house Western Michigan University's flight school. Another firm leases that building from the school.

The witness praised the pilot for the apparent efforts to avoid populated areas, knowing the aircraft was in trouble.

The plane burst into flames on impact.

"We tried to get to the pilot, but it was obvious it was too late," the witness said.

Other witnesses also noticed the pilot was having difficulty controling the aircraft while in the air.

"I was on my way to work when I saw an airplane and knew right away something was wrong," said Heather Stewart, who heard the crash and works at the nearby Pepsi Bottling Group plant.

"I kind of saw it glide down like a toy glider," said Stewart. "It hit nose first and was surrounded by flames."

Ed Ouellette told 24 Hour News 8 he was driving in the area and saw a puff of smoke and the plane engulfed in flames. He said there were "individuals outside trying everything they could to extinguish the flames."

Ouellette said he and other passersby stopped at the scene to help rescue the pilot but were unable to due to the fire.

Emergency personnel quickly arrived and doused the flames. The victim was later pronounced dead.

"Either the pilot or the owner of the airplane had just picked it up from being repaired or being inspected, and was actually taking off from the airport after having that completed," said Assistant Chief Brian Uridge of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety.

24 Hour News 8 checked the plane's recent flight record, which shows it flew on Sunday from Muskoka, Ontrario to Coleman A. Young International Airport in Detroit and then to Kalamazoo. A flight plan was filed for Tuesday morning from Kalamazoo to Muskoka.

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration continue to investigate the crash.
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Reference bold section: I know a mechanic on that field that specializes in Bonanzas. He was really good and conscientious and I hope he wasn't the one that wrenched on the Bo before it went down. At least I think he is still there - we did a lot of the work on our Twin Comanche back in the day.
 
SteveC said:
The descriptions that I heard sounded like he was trying to pick out a place more or less straight ahead, with a little turn at the end to try to get into a parking lot. Didn't sound to me like he was trying to return to the field.

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/kalamazoo_and_battle_creek/plane_crash_in_portage



Reference bold section: I know a mechanic on that field that specializes in Bonanzas. He was really good and conscientious and I hope he wasn't the one that wrenched on the Bo before it went down. At least I think he is still there - we did a lot of the work on our Twin Comanche back in the day.
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yup... I wrote the original post off of info from earlier today, checked and got that article and changed my post.
 
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