Jet Bound for Bush’s Father Crashes

A private plane on its way to pick up former President Bush crashed on approach to Hobby Airport here Monday morning, killing all three crew members on board.

The Gulfstream III jet, descending in heavy fog, clipped a light pole and slammed into a field south of downtown.

Bush was waiting at the airport for a scheduled 7 a.m. departure; he canceled his trip after the crash, said his spokesman, Tom Frechette.

The former president had planned to give a speech about free enterprise to the chamber of commerce in Guayaquil, on the western coast of Ecuador.

“I was deeply saddened to learn of the plane crash this morning.... I’d flown with this group before and know them very well,” Bush said through Frechette. “I join in sending heartfelt condolences to each and every member of their families.”

The plane, en route from Love Field in Dallas, was registered to Jet Place Inc. of Tulsa, Okla.

The company has not released the names of the two pilots and one flight attendant who were killed.

Authorities said the Gulfstream III was 1 1/2 miles from the runway when it hit a light pole on Beltway 8, a toll road that encircles the outskirts of the city. Part of the jet’s wing was sheared off by the impact; the pole was bent in half.

Jack Williams, a district chief with the Houston Fire Department, said no one on the ground was injured by the crash or debris. One car, he said, was showered with jet fuel and a minivan was struck by a piece of the shattered light fixture.

“It went through the windshield and to the floorboard, but it missed five people -- including three children -- who were inside,” Williams said.

There was no hint of trouble as the pilot neared Hobby Airport, said Roger Smith, a spokesman for the Houston Airport System. “Air traffic controllers and the pilot were talking back and forth, as they always do. There was no distress call.”

When controllers lost contact with the pilot, an alert was issued and firetrucks headed toward the runway. “The plane had probably crashed by then,” Smith said.

Heavy storms moved into the area late in the morning, slowing work at the site, but there was minimal rain when the jet went down. However, fog had obscured the ground, Smith said.

“They could see 1,500 feet straight ahead. But several aircraft had already landed successfully prior to the crash,” he said. “The light pole was not more than 150 feet high. For the plane to be that far from the airport, it was flying very low.”

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were at the scene, Williams said.