SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Four people are dead after a plane veered off course and crashed in Virginia wilderness Sunday after flying over Washington D.C., prompting security concerns.
That crash brings back memories of the 1999 Learjet crash near Mina, South Dakota, with pro golfer Payne Stewart and five others on board.
“At 12:30, everyone in Mina has their eye to the sky looking for an out of control jet heading their way,” KELOLAND’s Kristi Piehl said in a live report.
On October 25, 1999, KELOLAND News was the first media on the scene of a plane that crashed in a pasture near Mina, just west of Aberdeen.
The plane, carrying pro golfer Payne Stewart and five others, was on its way from Orlando to Dallas when the cabin lost pressure and flew aimlessly across the country for four hours on autopilot.
“We saw the two F-16s flying around and also the Learjet. It just kind of spun around and went straight down to the ground,” a nearby resident said.
“Radar tracked the jet and the two fighter planes followed the Lear to it’s final deadly destination in a South Dakota field,” KELOLAND’s Erin Payne said in a report.
“It just went straight down into the ground just like an apple falling from a tree,” former South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow said. “Really feel relieved that it happened in open spaces in South Dakota where nobody else could get hurt.”
Emergency crews were on scene right after the plane went down.
“Well, we pulled up, we seen some smoke kind of coming out of the little crater, and I drove the fire truck, so I drove up beside it,” a first responder said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators also arrived just hours after the crash, along with many other agencies.
“We’ll start to sort into the wreckage. We’ve got to see it. We came out for 20 minutes last night, but we have to sort of survey the site and come up with a plan as to how we’re going to do the recovery,” former NTSB vice chair Bob Francis said.
It was big news in the small town of Mina, but it did have residents mourning the loss of the six people on board, including the golfing legend Stewart.
“You got a famous golfer and you really wonder what their family is going through at this time, and I guess you kind of feel for them. You feel for everybody in the plane,” a first responder said.
In Sunday’s Virginia crash, all three passengers and the pilot were unresponsive before the plane went down. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.