3 people die in small plane crash near Amarillo
Nov 11, 2013, 8:24 PM
AMARILLO, Texas (AP) – Three people were killed early Monday when their single-engine plane crashed into a lakebed near Amarillo in heavy fog, officials said.
Lynn Lunsford, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the Beechcraft Bonanza crashed on a West Texas flight from Lubbock to Amarillo. The National Transportation Safety Board will be in charge of the investigation, Lunsford said.
Emergency personnel discovered the wreckage around 7:15 a.m. CST Monday about 2 miles north of Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport after the heavy fog lifted, Sr. Trooper Chris Ray said. The Texas Department of Public Safety was notified several hours earlier that the plane had disappeared off radar, he said.
Killed in the crash were William Michael Capt, his wife Robin Lea Capt and their 19-year-old son, William Michael Capt II. The parents were 48 years old. The family was from Canyon, 15 miles southwest of Amarillo.
Ray said the father recently bought the aircraft but officials aren’t sure who was flying.
The plane was in contact with air traffic controllers in Albuquerque, N.M., during one attempted landing at Tradewind Airport in Amarillo. The pilot subsequently tried landing at the city’s larger international airport.
“They were making a second attempt when they (the controllers) lost them,” Ray said.
Investigators are trying to determine if the weather played a role in the crash, he said.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)