Fiery Crash Kills 5 Aboard Plane, 11 on Ground

A huge military transport plane nose-dived into a parking lot just outside the regional airport here Thursday, touching off a fireball of aviation fuel that engulfed a motel and restaurant and killed at least 16 people.

“I heard a plane sputter and then the building started shaking and the lights flickered,” said garage mechanic Eric Huffman, who was working across the street. “It felt like an earthquake had hit.”

The Lockheed C-130 turboprop was based in Louisville, Ky., and was on a training flight for the Kentucky National Guard. Witnesses said it had been practicing a series of “touch-and-go” takeoffs and landings when it appeared to lose power shortly before 10 a.m. and plunged almost nose-first into the ground. Debris from the crash slid into JoJo’s restaurant and an adjacent four-story motel called the Drury Inn.

Authorities said all five crew members appeared to have died in the crash. Two other victims were found in the restaurant kitchen and nine were found in the motel, mostly on the fourth floor, a spokesman for the coroner said. At least 14 people were admitted to local hospitals suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.

It was the second-worst aviation disaster in the history of this southern Indiana community. In December, 1977, a chartered DC-3 crashed on takeoff from the same airport, killing 29 people, including the entire University of Evansville Purple Aces basketball team.

The latest tragedy also brought back eerie reminders of another accident only four years ago, when an Air Force trainer plane lost power and smacked into the side of another airport motel, killing 10 people inside. Ironically, that crash also took place in Indiana, only 200 miles up the road in Indianapolis.

Military investigators dispatched from Scott Air Force Base in Belleville, Ill., were still poring over the debris Thursday night. Spokesmen said it could take several days or longer to determine what went wrong.

The plane crashed along a commercial strip just south of the airport along busy U.S. 41. The site was only a few hundred yards from a sprawling Whirlpool refrigerator factory, which is the largest employer in southern Indiana.

Mike Genpre, who worked nearby, said he ran toward the motel after he heard the explosion and saw an “incredible wall of smoke and a tower of flames.” Despite intense heat, Genpre said he made his way into the building and checked rooms on the first three floors but could find nobody.

When he reached the fourth floor, “I started yelling,” he said. “We heard some people. One woman walked out very disoriented. Her skin was covered black with smoke. She was very shaken up. I heard screaming but I couldn’t make it out . . . . Another lady crawled to the landing. She said she’d been blown through the door . . . she was burnt very badly on her hair, skin and face. It was all very gruesome.”

Dennis Serio, manager of JoJo’s, told the Associated Press that at least 15 to 20 people were in the 24-hour coffee shop when, suddenly, parts of the plane smashed through a window. “I got up and everyone was running toward the door,” he said. “Walls were falling in, steel was all over the place. One cook was knocked down, tried to get up to get back to the dishwasher and just couldn’t.”

Across the street at the Ramada Inn, waiter Bobby Miller was in the restaurant kitchen talking to a hostess when he heard a loud boom and the entire building began to shudder. He ran outside and saw people streaming out of the restaurant. Miller said he tried to get close to help but was repelled by intense heat from the fire.

Nine Plumbing & Industrial Supply Co. employees, who were attending a seminar at the hotel, were unaccounted for Thursday night, said Bruce Stallings, president of the Evansville company. Among them was his brother, John, he said.

Dan Rush, in Evansville for a business meeting, said he had flown in C-130s when he was in the Air Force. So when he happened to notice the aircraft take off as he was driving on a nearby highway, he instantly realized that something was amiss.

“It just wasn’t right,” Rush said. “It started side-slipping and nosed to the ground. . . . It was on a very steep angle. . . . From what we could tell, it went right into the parking lot. . . . I’ve never seen anything like it, even close. The fireball was unreal. . . . There was extremely black smoke and flame.”

Capt. Dan Gardner, a spokesman for the Indiana Air National Guard, said the aircraft had completed two touch-and-goes, procedures in which the pilot settles the plane down on the runway but lifts off again without stopping. The crash took place on the third such procedure.

“Upon takeoff of the last one, it appeared to be in a left-climbing turn and it appeared to stall and then crashed into the Drury Inn and JoJo’s one mile south of runway 22,” Gardner said. “ . . . The wing and engine slid into the motel and the fuselage was in the parking lot. It appears that it was not a direct hit.”

The aircraft was assigned to the 123rd Tactical Air Lift Wing of the Kentucky National Guard, based in Louisville, about 100 miles away.

Lt. Col. Ed Tonini, chief of public affairs for the Kentucky Guard, said the Evansville airport is frequently used for training flights because it is close to Louisville but has far less commercial traffic.

All five crewmen on the aircraft were members of the Kentucky Guard. The pilot, who flew commercial cargo planes in civilian life, was identified by guard officials as Maj. Richard A. Strang, 39, from Floyds Knobs, Ind. Authorities did not immediately release the identities of the civilians killed.

Times staff writers Tracy Shryer in Chicago and Eric Malnic in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

C-130 Transport Plane Crash C-130 Hercules: Medium to long-range military transport built by Lockheed Length: 97 ft. 9 in. Height: 38 ft. 3 in. Wingspan: 132 ft. 7 in. Engines: Four T56 turboprops Cruise Speed: 340 m.p.h. Range: 2,450 miles with maximum payload Crew: 5 Capacity: 92 troops or 42,673 lb. Sources: Jane’s World Aircraft Recognition Handbook, Evansville Regional Airport; Airguide Publications, Inc.