Charter airline loses two planes
 |
A firefighter walks past what is left of a plane that crashed near Toledo, Ohio.
Story Tools
|
TOLEDO, Ohio (CNN) -- Two planes from the same charter company crashed Tuesday in separate accidents, one of which killed three people.
One plane crashed at Grand Aire's hometown of Toledo just before 2 p.m. EDT. All three people aboard died.
In St. Louis, Missouri, the two-person crew was rescued when their plane crashed into the Mississippi River around 7 p.m. (8 p.m. EDT). Police said one person was in critical condition.
Both planes were the same model -- Falcon-20. The Federal Aviation Administration said the St. Louis plane "may have lost an engine" before it crashed.
The FAA said both of the planes belonged to Grand Aire, a charter company with about 40 planes in its fleet. A company official refused comment on the crashes late Tuesday.
The FAA said both crashes were under investigation. The Falcon-20 is an executive jet that can seat about nine passengers and fly at a maximum speed of 500 mph.
In Toledo, the jet crashed into a park just west of the Toledo Express Airport. "They hit a bunch of trees," a spokeswoman for the Ohio State Highway Patrol said, adding that no one on the ground was injured.
The St. Louis crash occurred about 30 minutes after the jet missed its approach at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Authorities said it crashed into the Mississippi River near the McKinley Bridge.
A taped message from the FAA on the incident said the jet "may have lost an engine" as it conducted a "go-around" to make another attempt at landing. The plane was flying in from Del Rio, Texas.