NTSB Reports On Plane Crash That Killed Tulsa Businessman, Former OU QB

Tulsa business owner Wesley Caves died in a South Bend, Indiana plane crash that also claimed the life of former University of Oklahoma quarterback Steve Davis.

Monday, March 18th 2013, 3:00 pm

By: Emory Bryan

NTSB Reports On Plane Crash That Killed Tulsa Businessman, Former OU QB

We have new information the Indiana plane crash that killed two Tulsa men and injured two other men Sunday.

The crash happened in a neighborhood after the pilot made at least two aborted attempts to land.

"A success for us today was the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder, commonly called the black box," said National Transportation Safety Board Investigator Andrew Todd Fox. "The cockpit voice recorder was secured in good condition and it's en route to Washington, D.C. for our lab, where there will be an automated download and review."

The owner of the aircraft was one of the men killed in the crash, 58-year-old Wesley Caves.

Caves was an experienced pilot and principal owner of DigiCut systems, a company that manufactures window tinting film and related equipment. He was married, with adult children.

Investigators say Steve Davis, a licensed pilot, who was also in the cockpit, was also killed.

The plane is considered a light corporate jet. It has eight seats and is certified for flight by a single pilot.

Both pilots and the plane that crashed routinely flew out of Jones Riverside Airport.

Authorities in Indiana said the other men on the flight, Jim Rodgers and Christopher Evans, were employees of DigiCut.

The plane left Tulsa at 1:58 p.m. Sunday, for the hour-and-a-half flight to South Bend, Indiana. The pilot was attempting to land, in clear weather, when the plane crashed at 3:23 p.m., veering right after the aborted landing.

"The information I have, preliminary, is that the aircraft made two approaches to land, following by what we consider a go-around or aborted landing. And during the second aborted landing attempt, the aircraft was observed to climb away from the runway, enter a bank and shortly thereafter impact a residence," Fox said.

The aircraft hit two houses before it lodged inside a third. There was no fire.

A woman inside one of the houses was hurt and she's in fair condition.

Several family and business contacts for Mr Caves did not want to speak on camera today.

He is an experienced pilot who routinely flew the small jet for business.