Wed, Oct. 20, 2004
 
At least eight die in Kirksville plane crash

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — A commuter plane crashed Tuesday night in a wooded area south of Kirksville, killing at least eight persons, the Federal Aviation Administration in Chicago said.

The plane was Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 on a regular route from St. Louis to Kirksville in northeast Missouri. Corporate Airlines is an affiliate of American Airlines.

Corporate Airlines President Doug Caldwell said 15 persons were aboard the aircraft: 13 passengers and two crew members. Northeast Regional Medical Center in Kirksville was treating two survivors, a man and a woman. Hospital spokesman Larry Rodgers said both were in stable condition.

Five aboard were missing, said Adair County Chief Deputy Larry Logston.

The plane crashed about 7:50 p.m.

The British Aerospace Jetstream 32 twin turboprop, a 19-seat aircraft, went down about four miles south of Kirksville, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said. The plane's last communication at 7:33 p.m. indicated it was on a normal approach to Kirksville Regional Airport, and there was no mention of any problems, Cory said.

Weather conditions were overcast with misting and some thunderstorms in the area, according to FAA weather observations. It wasn't clear whether the plane went down in a storm.

According to the airline's schedule, the flight was to depart St. Louis at 6:42 p.m. and arrive in Kirksville at 7:42 p.m.

Corporate Airlines, based in Smyrna, Tenn., was formed in 1996. As AmericanConnection, it provides 70 flights from 13 cities in the Midwest to St. Louis and Nashville with a fleet of 12 aircraft. The company has 250 employees.

According to the Kirksville airport's Web site, Corporate Airlines schedules 10 nonstop flights between Kirksville and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport each week.

“This is the first accident we've had,” Caldwell said.

He expressed condolences for the victims.

Kirksville, about 90 miles north of Columbia, is home to two universities: Truman State University and A.T. Still University of Health Sciences, an osteopathic medical school.

Tuesday's crash was the second by a commercial aircraft in Missouri in less than a week. Late Thursday, a Pinnacle Airlines jet crashed in a residential area in east Jefferson City, killing two pilots. There were no passengers on board at the time. The cause of that crash still is not clear.

The Star's James Hart and John Shultz contributed to this report.