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Fatalities Reported After Jet Crashes into Homes in Indiana Neighborhood

Mar. 17, 2013 9:10pm Erica Ritz

Jet From Oklahoma Crashes Into Indiana Neighborhood: Fatalities Reported

The front end of a Hawker Beachcraft Premier jet sits in a room of a home on Iowa Street in South Bend, Ind., Sunday, March 17, 2013. (Photo: Mike Hartman / South Bend Tribune via AP)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (TheBlaze/AP) – A private jet apparently experiencing mechanical trouble crashed Sunday in a northern Indiana neighborhood, hitting three homes and killing two people aboard the plane, authorities and witnesses said.

The Beechcraft Premier I twin-jet had left Tulsa, Okla.’s Riverside Airport and crashed near South Bend Regional Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig in Oklahoma City said. Two of four people aboard the plane were killed, Herwig said.

It was not clear if anyone on the ground was killed, and Herwig did not have any additional information.

South Bend Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Maggie Scroope said three people injured when the plane crashed were being treated there; one was in serious condition and two were in fair condition. Scoope did not know if they were on the plane or the ground.

The plane was registered to 7700 Enterprises of Montana LLC in Helena, Mont. The company is owned by Wes Caves and does business as DigiCut Systems in Tulsa, Okla. It makes window film and paint overlay for automobiles.

A woman identifying herself as Caves’ wife answered the phone at their home Sunday and said, “I think he’s dead,” before hanging up.

South Bend police and fire officials examine a home where a a plane crash occurred near the South Bend Regional Airport Sunday, March 17, 2013 in South Bend, Ind. (Photo: AP)

In South Bend, Assistant Fire Chief John Corthier said the presence of jet fuel from the aircraft made the situation “very dangerous,” Corthier said. The plane was lodged inside a house.

“It’s still a rescue operation,” Corthier said about three hours after the crash. Referring to one of the damaged houses, he said, “Because of the collapse in the house it’s a very dangerous situation. We have to shore up the house before we can enter the house. ”

Part of the neighborhood southwest of the airport was evacuated. Buses transported up to 200 people to a nearby shelter, Red Cross volunteer Jackie Lincoln said.

Mike Daigle, executive director of the St. Joseph County Airport Authority, said the jet attempted a landing, went back up and maneuvered south to try another landing, but eight minutes later the airport learned the plane was no longer airborne.

“There was an indication of a mechanical problem,” Herwig said.

South Bend police and fire officials examine a home where a a plane crash occurred near the South Bend Regional Airport Sunday, March 17, 2013 in South Bend, Ind. (Photo: AP)

Stan Klaybor, who lives across the street from the crash scene, said the jet clipped the top of one house, heavily damaged a second, and finally came to rest against a third. Neighbors did not know if a woman living in the most heavily damaged house was home at the time, and a young boy in the third house did not appear to be seriously injured, Klaybor said.

“Her little boy was in the kitchen and he got nicked here,” Klaybor said, pointing to his forehead.

His wife, Mary Jane, regularly watches planes approach the airport.

“I was looking out my picture window. The plane’s coming, and I go, `Wait a minute,’ and then, boom,” she said.

“This one was coming straight at my house. I went, `Huh?’ and then there was a big crash, and all the insulation went flying,” she said.

This is a breaking news story. Updates will be added.

—

Associated Press writer Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.

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Comments (18)

Sargeking
Posted on March 18, 2013 at 12:33pm
I don’t fly but now I don’t feel quite as safe anyway. If you can, avoid living close to any airport. That’s where most of the crashes into houses (or buildings) occur. In Fort Lauderdale a guy flew into the Executive Airport from the Bahama’s, picked-up two passengers and took off North for West Palm Beach. When he reached an altitude of 3,000 feet both engines of his plane cut-off. He forgot to check the fuel tanks. Oops! He dropped like a rock through the roof of a auto repair shop. There was no fire because there was no fuel. The plane hit nose first so hard the pilot came through the windshield and landed under the plane’s engine. A girl on-board was cut in half. Only his son survived. What a mess. As I mentioned, try not to live too close to any airport, big or small.

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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on March 18, 2013 at 10:39am
We gotz too many of them air thingies up in the skies, these people just ignant, waz wrong with the limo service? Yall need to chill? Oh no, they talking bout them dronez zgain, honey, did you buy dat stock in dat portable battery company? We just know somebudz going to forget to change da drone batteries and crash one of them things in our houses? Lord have mercy, whats the world coming to?

We better ask Sheila Jackson Lee, how much did planting that flag on Marz cost? She gotz a zoo zombie coming, she’s sound da warning people, we best pay tension?

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GroundZero is Nuclear Demolition x3
Posted on March 18, 2013 at 8:48am
@Rykratz You mean it didn’t immediately EXPLODE and leave a cartoon shaped hole, never to be seen again. It’s that how a jet is suppose to crash?? (sarc)

Educating the LAWS OF PHYSICS is more than half the battle, ignorance is no excuse.

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- justangry
  Posted on March 18, 2013 at 5:38pm
  You might have to spell it out.
  
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Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on March 18, 2013 at 7:26am
Occupational hazard of living in “fly-over country”.

(I say this as a born and bred Hoosier.)

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Warphead
Posted on March 18, 2013 at 4:27am
There are times for jokes, times to criticize times to talk politics. This tragedy is a time for none of those. People died, lives cut short, plans for the future never realized, families devastated and the world changed. This is simply a time to pray for the families.If you know any of them this is a time to reach out. If you have nothing better to do than interject some some sort of twisted self aggrandizing comment designed to show everyone how witty you are, this is a time to shut up.

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vtxphantom
Posted on March 18, 2013 at 1:15am
Maybe it was one of obama’s drones.

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SilentReader
Posted on March 18, 2013 at 12:47am
My prayers are with all those effected by this terrible tragedy. God bless you.

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powedj
Posted on March 17, 2013 at 10:41pm
That was George Bush’s fault !!!.

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woodenputter
Posted on March 17, 2013 at 9:49pm
May God be with all those effected. You are in my prayers ton

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woodenputter
Posted on March 17, 2013 at 9:48pm
May God be with all those effected. You are in my prayers tonight.

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denkat56
Posted on March 17, 2013 at 9:48pm
God be with the victims and the families on the ground. Not knowing what’s on the plane, maybe jet fuel leak, broken gas lines in the homes. Maybe power wires cut. Just as a precaution to keep others from being hurt.

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3DGuy
Posted on March 17, 2013 at 9:34pm
Geez, I lived there 14 years. If I remember right, that’s a poor neighborhood, too. What a kick in the teeth for those people.

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TotallyNotATroll
Posted on March 17, 2013 at 9:23pm
Not burning, not exploding, exactly why did they ‘evacuate’ 200 people from the neighborhood? Let me guess, for their own safety…

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- RyKratz
  Posted on March 17, 2013 at 9:49pm
  I live on the street, we were evacuated due to jet fuel leaking because the plan was full and just left the airport. Power to the houses wasn’t cut off yet
  
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- hatchetjob
  Posted on March 17, 2013 at 9:50pm
  The evacuation was so that the looters could come in for freebies.
  
  Report this comment
- SovereignSoul
  Posted on March 17, 2013 at 10:48pm
  The story states that the plane had left Tulsa and was attempting to land in South Bend, not that it had just taken-off.
  
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- RyKratz
  Posted on March 17, 2013 at 11:32pm
  The report that it had left from Tulsa is wrong
  
  Report this comment

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