Small plane crashes into building at Kansas airport, at least 2 dead

USPA News - At least two people were killed Thursday and five others were injured when a small aircraft crashed into a FlightSafety building at a Kansas airport, causing parts of the building to collapse, local officials said. Four other people remained unaccounted-for.

The accident happened at about 9:50 a.m. local time when a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air B200 aircraft carrying one person crashed into a FlightSafety building at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, the state`s largest and busiest airport. More than 100 people were inside the building when the plane crashed into the roof. Wichita Fire Department Chief Ron Blackwell said airport fire crews were first to arrive at the scene and encountered heavy smoke and flames upon arrival. "Firefighters engaged into a horrific firefight for several minutes," he said. "We now have the fire under control and we`re in the process of trying to determine if all the employees and visitors who may have been in the building are accounted-for." Wichita Police said two people were confirmed dead by 12 p.m. while four others remained unaccounted-for. Five others were taken to hospital, including one person who was critically injured and three people whose conditions were described as fair. The condition of the fifth person was not immediately known. Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said the pilot of the small plane had reported losing engine power just after taking off from Mid-Continent Airport. "The aircraft crashed into a building on airport property while attempting to return to the runway," she said. Although a Beechcraft King Air B200 aircraft is capable of carrying up to 15 people, emergency services said the pilot was the only person on board the aircraft, but it was not immediately known whether the pilot was among those killed. Federal records showed the aircraft was built in 1999 and was registered to a company in Wichita. Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the cause of the crash, which caused a portion of the FlightSafety building to collapse.