ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The bodies of four people who died when a small plane crashed into a flight training facility at a Kansas airport remain at the site as authorities assess what needs to be done to make the building safe to enter.
Police on Friday confirmed the identity of the pilot as Mark Goldstein, but are not yet releasing the identities of the three other people whose bodies were found inside a flight simulator in the training facility at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.
Goldstein was an experienced pilot who worked as an air traffic controller for 24 years before retiring. He was working as a contract pilot at the time of the crash.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are at the scene to determine the cause of the accident.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say the “real work” will start Friday to recover the remains of four people who died when a small plane crashed into a building at a Kansas airport.
Jet fuel from the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air burned so hot after the crash Thursday morning that portions of the building at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport remained unsafe all day.
Wichita Fire Chief Ronald Blackwell says heavy equipment will arrive Friday to remove portions of the building so emergency personnel can reach the victims’ bodies. Crews are expected to be at the site for several days.
A federal investigator says the pilot reported a problem with the aircraft’s left engine soon after taking off from the airport.
Three of the dead were inside the building and the pilot was the fourth victim.