Pilot Killed in Crash Near Great Bend

Feb. 10 -- A twin-engine cargo plane crashed in central Kansas on Friday, killing a Wichita pilot.

Barton County Sheriff Buck Causey said the plane was carrying dry goods on its regular route from Wichita when it crashed in a field about one mile southwest of Great Bend Municipal Airport.

The plane, a Beech Model 18, was owned by William Chase, who has an Iowa-based freight operation. The plane was carrying freight for UPS.

The pilot's name has not been released, pending notification of kin. No passengers were aboard.

Causey said the plane's routine was to land in Great Bend around 9 a.m. every morning and return to Wichita in the evening.

Ed Weatherford, who owns Midwest Aviation, the airport's fixed-base operator, said the pilot had been flying into Great Bend for the past two or three months.

"She spent some time flying with their other pilots getting checked out in the Beech 18," he said. "She'd been flying by herself a few months now."

He said the weather was overcast with about a 400-foot ceiling and 2.5 miles visibility. Freezing drizzle had been falling intermittently.

"We were out fueling a plane and the Air Midwest flight came in about 30 minutes ahead of the accident," he said.

"I know that Air Midwest de-iced their plane before they left."

He said the pilot had her car parked at the airport and had planned to drive back to Wichita, where she lived with her poodle, for the weekend.

"I'm looking out the window, and there sits her car in the parking lot," he said. "It's sad."

Causey said the airplane was coming in for a landing in Great Bend, and other than that, it's unknown what happened.

The Federal Aviation Administration arrived late Friday afternoon to begin an investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to have investigators on the scene today, Weatherford said.

Contributing: Associated Press

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