Commuter plane crashes in Mo., killing at least 8

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My friend that works for AA has been activated and may be on his way to
Missouri soon.

=20

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-10-19-jet-crash_x.htm

=20

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) - Emergency crews searched woods and open fields
early Wednesday for possible survivors of a commuter plane crash that
killed at least eight people but left two others with only broken bones.

The American Airlines-affiliated Corporate Airlines plane, a twin-engine
turboprop, crashed in the woods a few miles short of the Kirksville
airport where it was preparing to land. Five people were missing, and
the cause of the crash had not been determined.=20

One survivor, a 44-year-old woman, was walking around when rescuers
arrived at the crash scene, and a 68-year-old man was found alive in
brush about 25 feet from the fuselage.=20

"We see car accidents with worse injuries coming in here every week,"
said Dr. Charles Zeman, director of trauma services at Northeast
Regional Medical Center. "This is truly a miracle."=20

Zeman said the male survivor broke his left hip and a bone in his lower
back. The woman suffered a compound fracture of right arm and mild to
severe burns over 8% of her body. Both were in stable condition.=20

Sgt. Brent Bernhardt of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said rescue
workers were holding out hope the five missing - all passengers - also
survived the crash and would be discovered in the daylight.=20

"We had officers out there all night," he said. "I'm confident that they
did a good search, but I can tell you the area is heavy brush, it's hard
to see through. When the daylight arrives, it's going to help us out
tremendously."=20

The wreckage was scattered over an area about one mile across, but the
two survivors were discovered "so close to the plane we're imagining the
others probably should have been close to the plane if they survived,"
Adair County Chief Deputy Larry Logston said.=20

The plane - Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 - was on a regular route from
St. Louis with 13 passengers and two crew members aboard when it crashed
shortly after 7:50 p.m., said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokesman for the
Federal Aviation Administration in Chicago.=20

The plane clipped treetops before crashing on its belly. Emergency crews
found the fuselage engulfed in flames and largely intact, with the wings
broken off nearby, Logston said.=20

All eight of those known dead were found in the fuselage, some still in
their seats and the two crew members in the cockpit area, he said.=20

Al Maglio, a photographer who said he arrived at the same time as
highway patrol officers, said a woman ran up to the emergency workers,
told them she had been in the plane and said, "It came apart before it
hit the ground."=20

The last communication from the Jetstream 32 indicated it was on a
normal approach to Kirksville Regional Airport in northeastern Missouri,
and there was no mention of any problems, Cory said.=20

National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrived at the
airport Wednesday morning and recovered both of the plane's flight data
recorders.=20

Thunderstorms were reported in the area at the time of the crash, but it
wasn't immediately known what conditions were like where the plane went
down or if weather was a factor.=20

Corporate Airlines, based in Smyrna, Tenn., provides 70 flights from 13
cities in the Midwest to St. Louis and Nashville as AmericanConnection,
affiliated with American Airlines.=20

Doug Caldwell, Corporate Airlines' CEO, said the crash was the airline's
first fatal accident. The company has 250 employees and flies 17
Jetstream 32s. The airline was trying to contact the families of all the
passengers, he said.=20

"On behalf of Corporate Airlines, I want to extend our deepest
sympathies to the family of the passengers of flight 5966," Caldwell
said in a news release. The statement also said the airline could not
speculate as to the cause of the crash.=20

There was no immediate comment from American Airlines.=20

Kirksville is about 220 miles northwest of St. Louis.=20

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