WICHITA, Kan. — A small plane lost power after takeoff and crashed into a flight-training building while trying to return to a Kansas airport Thursday.
The crash killed four people, injured five others and ignited a fire that sent up towering plumes of black smoke that could be seen for miles.
Three of the dead were inside a flight simulator in the building when the plane crashed into it at the city’s Mid-Continent Airport. The fourth was found on the roof and is thought to be the pilot, said Wichita Fire Chief Ronald Blackwell.
Five others were injured in the crash, and one of those was in serious condition at a hospital, Blackwell said. Officials said one person was on board the plane and that everyone who was in the building had been accounted for. Identities of the victims were not immediately released.
The plane, identified as a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air, crashed into a building that FlightSafety International uses to train pilots to fly Cessna planes, said company spokesman Steve Phillips.
