New Details Into Deadly Plane Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board has released witness accounts of a plane crash that killed five people in Glenpool last fall.  News On 6 anchor Jennifer Loren reports the report contains information about the moments before take-off.

They are details that give insight into the pilot's state of mind and the effects that day's weather may have had on him.

"I heard the plane sputtering and spatting. I looked out my window," said one witness of the crash.  "It was a ball of flames. You could see one person in the plane, but no movement or anything like that."

It's witness accounts like that that help NTSB investigators determine what causes deadly plane crashes like the one in Glenpool last October.

Reverend Bill Wiseman Junior, Tulsa Dr. Rhonda Lunn and her three children were all killed in the crash.

A recent report released on the NTSB website may give some insight into the cause or at least the pilot's state of mind before take-off.

In the report investigators quote several witnesses from the airport where the plane took off.

One pilot watched the plane take-off and said "It was so windy that I couldn't hear the engine."

This was the same day the wind took down a tent at OktoberFest, injuring several people.

The report goes on to say the pilot, Reverend Wiseman, was nervous about the weather and flying with children.

A friend who was with him in the plane just before take-off said the pilot:  "seemed nervous and preoccupied, not his usual self, which was normally happy and outgoing."

That same witness went on to say:  "I noticed that he was staring at the instrument panel for a while, and then he asked where the magneto switches were. I thought that was a strange question, since he probably had at least 200 hours in that very airplane."

Then the witness said, after the plane was fueled:  "He couldn't find the starter button, which is actually a key, and he couldn't locate the fuel boost pump for starting. After I pointed out the proper switches, he started the airplane."

The report also lists the causes of death as smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.  It says no drugs were in the pilot's system at the time of the crash.

A full report is expected later this year.

To view the entire report visit The National Transportation Safety Board website.

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