A Learjet co-owned by Payne Stewart flew uncontrolled over the nation's heartland for hours today before crashing in South Dakota, apparently with five people aboard. There were no survivors.
Government officials feared the U.S. Open golf champion was among the victims and the plane's pressurization may have failed. The golfer's mother, Bee Stewart, said in Springfield, Mo., she didn't know if her son was on the plane but said he was a part owner of the jet.The aircraft left Orlando, Fla., this morning bound for Dallas, and the last communication was when the plane was over Gainesville, Fla., said Tony Molinaro, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Chicago.
Stewart, who lives in Orlando, had been expected in Houston on Tuesday for practice rounds in advance of the Tour Championship, the PGA Tour's final tournament of the year for the top 30 players on its money list.
The plane had flown as high as 45,000 feet and the crew did not respond to repeated inquiries from air traffic controllers, said Paul Turk, an FAA spokesman.
An Air Force F-16 fighter jet from Tyndall, Fla., was diverted from a routine training flight to check out the Learjet, Air Force officials said. Two F-15 fighters from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., then took over to follow the Learjet, and they later handed off the monitoring to two Air National Guard F-16s from Tulsa, Okla.
Gene Abdallah, superintendent of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, confirmed that the plane had crashed about two miles west of Mina, S.D., in the north-central part of the state.
"The plane had pretty much nosed straight into the ground," said Mina resident Lesley Braun, who lives about two miles from the site. "There's not a lot of debris spread out a long ways."
She said her husband was among those who saw the plane coming down. "They saw it nose down so they hopped in the vehicle and raced towards where it was going down and were the first ones on the scene," she said.
No one survived, South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow said. No one on the ground was hurt, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said.
There was no confirmation as to the identities of those on the plane, but one official said authorities had information from a flight plan and the jet's registration number that led them to believe Stewart was among those on board.
Stewart, 42, has been one of the most recognizable players in golf because of his trademark knickers and tam-o'-shanter hat. He has won 18 tournaments around the world, including three major championships. In June, Stewart won his second U.S. Open over Phil Mickelson with a 15-foot putt, the longest putt to ever decide that championship on the final hole.
Lockhart said President Clinton was informed of the situation during a meeting with his economic advisers. When reporters pressed him for the identities of those on board, he threatened to cut short his daily briefing.
He said that FAA officials had an unofficial roster of those on board, and "until they have confirmed that there won't be any further information."
Lockhart said that two FAA officials already had been dispatched to the scene of the crash, as had a National Transportation Safety Board representative.
Planes that fly above 12,000 feet are normally pressurized, because passengers would have difficulty breathing the thin air above that altitude.
If there is a pressurization problem, those aboard the aircraft could slowly lose consciousness and, if not returned to a normal altitude, die.
Once reaching a cruise altitude, pilots often switch on the autopilot. If they passed out, the plane would cruise until it ran out of fuel.