Photo courtesy of Brian Youngers
A Beechcraft B200 King Air crashed through the roof of one of the FlightSafety International buildings on Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport this morning. Reports indicate that the airplane lost an engine on takeoff and the pilot said he was going to return and land. The lone occupant of the aircraft was pilot Mark Goldstein, a contract pilot taking the aircraft to Arkansas for refurbishing work. Three people in the building were killed and five were injured. Three of those were taken to a hospital but treated and released. The toll may rise, however, as four people in the building are still missing as of our deadline. Records indicatethat the airplane had been purchased by Gilleland Aviation of Georgetown, Texas two days prior to the accident.
The FlightSafety Cessna Learning Center building that was hit is near the middle of a large area of buildings and hangars north of the terminal and between the parallel runways. Witnesses report that fire crews were on the scene within moments of impact. The pilot was a retired air traffic controller who had won several awards during his career with the FAA. “Our thoughts go out to all of our members and FAA employees at Wichita Tower and TRACON, where Mark served as a very skilled and highly professional air traffic controller for 24 years,” said Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. “This is a terrible loss for them, and for everyone who knew Mark.”
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified NATCA’s president as Steve Rinaldi.
