Sunday, November 10th 2013, 5:21 pm
A twin-engine plane crashed and erupted into flames in Owasso on Sunday afternoon.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown confirmed at least one person is dead.
The crash happened about five miles north of Tulsa International Airport, west of Mingo and north of 98th Street North. You could see the smoke on our Osage Casino Skycam Network.
According to aircraft registration records, the plane's N number is registered to Intermountain Powersports, Inc., out of Salt Lake City, Utah. The plane is a 1974 Mitsubishi MU-2B-25. It has been registered to the Utah company since February 2012.
Flight Aware flight tracking shows the plane took off in Salina, Kansas.
One witness said the plane made two loops and nose-dived into a field, another said he saw that one of the propellers was not moving before the nose went down.
"The wings that look like they detached from the airplane, it was all kind of sit down all together there. That was fully engulfed. Things were blowing up," witness Jake Bray said. "Gas cans or whatever, tires popping."
Bray was out in the woods when he saw the plane circling. He has cuts on his hands from running through thick brush to the crash site.
"We got there, and with all the flames, there was no way we can get in close," Bray said.
Lee Moore said he heard a loud noise after the plane went down.
"I got about right here, and then I heard the fire trucks coming and then I heard the plane blow up," Moore said.
Tulsa International Airport spokeswoman Alexis Higgins told the Associated Press the airport received an alert from a pilot who reported engine problems and was trying to land at the airport.
Bray's family lives under the flight path for one of TIA's runways.
"We're used to it... it's when it came over the second time, when the propeller was out, I knew something was wrong," he said.
Pilot Justin Allison was getting ready to land another plane when he was ordered to turn around.
"Air traffic control came over the radio and said that there was a problem, twin-engine plane... had an engine failure," Allison said.
When he circled back over the crash site, Allison said, "we all had that sick feeling in our stomachs."
"We were just minutes behind this plane, so as a pilot, you kind of feel a connection with everyone out there," Allison said.
Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board officials will begin an investigation on Monday.
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