WICHITA, Kan., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A twin-engine plane crashed into an air safety facility at Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, Kansas, killing the pilot and three others Thursday morning.
The Beechcraft King Air B200 had just taken off for a flight to Arkansas and the pilot was trying to return to the airport when it lost an engine, officials said. The plane crashed into Flight Safety International Inc., causing a partial roof collapse.
Five people were injured. The pilot, a retired air traffic controller, was alone in the plane.
A postal worker who did not want to be identified said he saw the plane with its nose down just before the crash.
"I knew it was at the wrong place at the wrong time because it was way, way too low," he told the Wichita Eagle. "I saw it impact. It immediately went to flames."
The crash set off a dangerous fire in the building, and firefighters were unable to search some areas immediately. For much of the day, authorities said four people had been confirmed dead and four were missing, but later said everyone had been accounted for.
Relatives identified the pilot as Mark Goldstein, 53, and said he was working as a contract pilot. The Beechcraft had just been sold and Goldstein was ferrying it to a facility in Mena, Ark., where the interior was to be refurbished, a friend told KAKE-TV.
hinene. PHOTOS - pic.twitter.com/UfwFVsx2U5
— KolHaolam (@KolHaolam) October 30, 2014Report: Plane hits building at airport in Wichita, Kansas http://t.co/O8YJwVrNjh pic.twitter.com/kRndq5zgaq
— WPTV (@WPTV) October 30, 2014
Plane crashed into Flight Safety right across the street from my father-in-law! #Wichita #Kansas @KWCH12 pic.twitter.com/4jxn4c12Ky
— Tracey Weaver ąཞɬ (@mojorisinhi) October 30, 2014