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http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/D29F208692322A5A86256F5D001297EA?OpenDocument&Headline=2+dead+in+corporate+jet+crash
2 dead in corporate jet crash
Two people aboard a corporate jet died last night when it crashed on Howell Island in St. Charles County shortly after takeoff from Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield.
Officials identified Tahir Cheema, 50, of Toledo, Ohio, and Eko Pinardi, 40, from Fort Wayne, Ind., as the victims killed in the crash. Police were not sure who was piloting the plane. Representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board are expected to investigate the crash later today.
Lt. Craig McGuire of the St. Charles County Sheriff's office said the wreckage of the plane was spotted from the air about 3:30 this morning. Personnel on the ground confirmed that the only two people aboard the plane had died.
McGuire said the plane hit the bank of the island and remains fairly intact, but the cockpit apparently struck a tree, resulting in the fatalities.
The site of the crash normally can be reached on foot, McGuire added, but because of high water it is now accessible only by boat.
"Conditions down here are really rough, due to high water, fast current and low visibility, fog, that kind of stuff," McGuire said. "We've just secured the scene until we get a chance to get out there at first light."
McGuire said the wreckage was found two to three miles from the airport, on the southwest tip of island.
“It’s treacherous area,” said Kathleen Diebold of the St. Charles County Medical Examiners Office.
The plane was bound for Toledo, Ohio, home of Grand Aire Express Inc., identified by the FAA as the plane's registered owner. Cheema was the owner of Grand Aire.
Grand Aire did not immediately return telephone messages Wednesday.
Grand Aire, founded in 1985, built its business on making short-notice deliveries of auto parts to factories across the country. But as the auto industry suffered slow sales, car companies shipped less cargo by air.
In April of last year, Grand Aire lost two planes in crashes five hours apart -- one killing three pilots near Toledo Express Airport, the other involving two pilots who escaped injury when their plane went down in the Mississippi River north of the Gateway Arch near downtown St. Louis.
The plane lost in Ohio about a mile short of the runway experienced about two minutes of radio silence shortly before it disappeared from radar, a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board investigation found.
Both planes in those crashes were Dassault Aviation Falcon 20s.
Grand Aire grounded its planes for nine days after those crashes and said it was struggling to recover, asking the agency that runs Toledo's airport to buy its hangar for $5 million and lease it back to the charter service.
The Associated Press contributed information for this story.
Check back with STLtoday.com for further updates.
----------------
Our earlier story by Daphne Duret and Greg Jonsson:
Snow and mist hampered a search Tuesday night for a corporate jet that disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff from Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield.
The plane, with two crew members on board, took off about 8:15 p.m., said Elizabeth Isham Cory, regional spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The twin-engine airplane, a Hansa model of German make, was headed for Toledo, Ohio, she said.
St. Charles County authorities searched for signs of the plane in the area between Highway 94 and the Missouri River, about three miles west of the airport. St. Louis County authorities searched on their side of the river. Two boats and firefighters helped search in and along the river.
Authorities said they had not picked up a signal from an emergency transmitter on the plane. All planes are required to have such a beacon, designed to withstand an impact.
"That would be helpful right now, because we don't have much to go on," said Richard E. Hrabko, Spirit of St. Louis Airport director.
Hrabko said airport workers reported the jet sounded as though it was having trouble during takeoff and lost its engines shortly after getting airborne. He said two men arrived at the airport Tuesday to take the jet, which had been parked there for several weeks.
The National Weather Service said light snow was falling at the time of the takeoff and wind was gusting from the west at 23 mph. Visibility was nine miles, and there was a broken ceiling of 1,600 feet. The aircraft had filed an instrument flight plan and took off with a full supply of fuel, Hrabko said.
Authorities said the snow made their work more difficult. Hrabko said a county police helicopter took off twice, but the pilot returned quickly both times because of the bad weather.
"It's somewhat frustrating because the weather is just not allowing us to get the helicopter up," Hrabko said late Tuesday night. "We have people on the ground . . . it's like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Cottleville Fire Protection District Capt. Steve Morgan said the district had received calls about a low-flying aircraft from Greens Bottom, below Weldon Spring, southwest to Defiance. Morgan said some searchers thought the plane had crashed into the river.
The FAA said it couldn't identify the airplane's owners or those on board. Spirit of St. Louis, in the river bottomlands of Chesterfield, is the home of a number of corporate jets and hosts the annual St. Louis County Fair and Air Show over the Labor Day weekend.
In September, a small plane crashed on a Missouri River island as it approached Spirit airport, killing a couple from Chesterfield and another couple from Florida. The two couples were returning from Sikeston, Mo., when the Cessna 182 crashed.
Other recent crashes in Missouri include an AmericanConnection regional flight from Lambert Field that crashed near the Kirksville airport with 15 people on board in October. Two people survived the crash. A few days before that, a 50-seat jet crashed into a residential neighborhood near Jefferson City. The pilot and co-pilot were killed. No one else was on the plane and no one on the ground was injured.
Susan Weich and Tim O'Neil of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
2 dead in corporate jet crash
By Elisa Crouch and Susan Weich
Post-Dispatch
11/30/2004Two people aboard a corporate jet died last night when it crashed on Howell Island in St. Charles County shortly after takeoff from Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield.
Officials identified Tahir Cheema, 50, of Toledo, Ohio, and Eko Pinardi, 40, from Fort Wayne, Ind., as the victims killed in the crash. Police were not sure who was piloting the plane. Representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board are expected to investigate the crash later today.
Lt. Craig McGuire of the St. Charles County Sheriff's office said the wreckage of the plane was spotted from the air about 3:30 this morning. Personnel on the ground confirmed that the only two people aboard the plane had died.
McGuire said the plane hit the bank of the island and remains fairly intact, but the cockpit apparently struck a tree, resulting in the fatalities.
The site of the crash normally can be reached on foot, McGuire added, but because of high water it is now accessible only by boat.
"Conditions down here are really rough, due to high water, fast current and low visibility, fog, that kind of stuff," McGuire said. "We've just secured the scene until we get a chance to get out there at first light."
McGuire said the wreckage was found two to three miles from the airport, on the southwest tip of island.
“It’s treacherous area,” said Kathleen Diebold of the St. Charles County Medical Examiners Office.
The plane was bound for Toledo, Ohio, home of Grand Aire Express Inc., identified by the FAA as the plane's registered owner. Cheema was the owner of Grand Aire.
Grand Aire did not immediately return telephone messages Wednesday.
Grand Aire, founded in 1985, built its business on making short-notice deliveries of auto parts to factories across the country. But as the auto industry suffered slow sales, car companies shipped less cargo by air.
In April of last year, Grand Aire lost two planes in crashes five hours apart -- one killing three pilots near Toledo Express Airport, the other involving two pilots who escaped injury when their plane went down in the Mississippi River north of the Gateway Arch near downtown St. Louis.
The plane lost in Ohio about a mile short of the runway experienced about two minutes of radio silence shortly before it disappeared from radar, a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board investigation found.
Both planes in those crashes were Dassault Aviation Falcon 20s.
Grand Aire grounded its planes for nine days after those crashes and said it was struggling to recover, asking the agency that runs Toledo's airport to buy its hangar for $5 million and lease it back to the charter service.
The Associated Press contributed information for this story.
Check back with STLtoday.com for further updates.
----------------
Our earlier story by Daphne Duret and Greg Jonsson:
Snow and mist hampered a search Tuesday night for a corporate jet that disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff from Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield.
The plane, with two crew members on board, took off about 8:15 p.m., said Elizabeth Isham Cory, regional spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The twin-engine airplane, a Hansa model of German make, was headed for Toledo, Ohio, she said.
St. Charles County authorities searched for signs of the plane in the area between Highway 94 and the Missouri River, about three miles west of the airport. St. Louis County authorities searched on their side of the river. Two boats and firefighters helped search in and along the river.
Authorities said they had not picked up a signal from an emergency transmitter on the plane. All planes are required to have such a beacon, designed to withstand an impact.
"That would be helpful right now, because we don't have much to go on," said Richard E. Hrabko, Spirit of St. Louis Airport director.
Hrabko said airport workers reported the jet sounded as though it was having trouble during takeoff and lost its engines shortly after getting airborne. He said two men arrived at the airport Tuesday to take the jet, which had been parked there for several weeks.
The National Weather Service said light snow was falling at the time of the takeoff and wind was gusting from the west at 23 mph. Visibility was nine miles, and there was a broken ceiling of 1,600 feet. The aircraft had filed an instrument flight plan and took off with a full supply of fuel, Hrabko said.
Authorities said the snow made their work more difficult. Hrabko said a county police helicopter took off twice, but the pilot returned quickly both times because of the bad weather.
"It's somewhat frustrating because the weather is just not allowing us to get the helicopter up," Hrabko said late Tuesday night. "We have people on the ground . . . it's like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Cottleville Fire Protection District Capt. Steve Morgan said the district had received calls about a low-flying aircraft from Greens Bottom, below Weldon Spring, southwest to Defiance. Morgan said some searchers thought the plane had crashed into the river.
The FAA said it couldn't identify the airplane's owners or those on board. Spirit of St. Louis, in the river bottomlands of Chesterfield, is the home of a number of corporate jets and hosts the annual St. Louis County Fair and Air Show over the Labor Day weekend.
In September, a small plane crashed on a Missouri River island as it approached Spirit airport, killing a couple from Chesterfield and another couple from Florida. The two couples were returning from Sikeston, Mo., when the Cessna 182 crashed.
Other recent crashes in Missouri include an AmericanConnection regional flight from Lambert Field that crashed near the Kirksville airport with 15 people on board in October. Two people survived the crash. A few days before that, a 50-seat jet crashed into a residential neighborhood near Jefferson City. The pilot and co-pilot were killed. No one else was on the plane and no one on the ground was injured.
Susan Weich and Tim O'Neil of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
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