KERRVILLE, Texas – Six people died Monday in a crash involving a plane that departed from the West Houston Airport.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the twin-engine Beechcraft BE58 crashed on a private ranch in Kerrville just before 9 a.m. while preparing to land at Kerrville Municipal Airport, which is about 6 miles away from the crash scene.
FAA officials said six adults were on the plane. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, all six were killed.
Here are the people who were killed, according to authorities:
- Jeffrey Carl Weiss, 65, of Houston (pilot)
- Stuart Roben Kensinger, 55, of Houston
- Angela Webb Kensinger, 54, of Houston
- Mark Damien Scioneaux, 58, of Houston
- Scott Reagan Miller, 55, of Houston
- Marc Tellepsen, 45, of Houston
The plane is registered to Weiss.
Officials do not yet know what caused the crash.
"Lots of lives changed today," Robert Hurt, a former pilot from Kerrville, said. "I’ve been to a bunch of crashes and these things are just heart wrenching."
Kerr County Sheriff's Office officials said the plane crashed into a ravine, but a spokesman for DPS described it differently.
"It's a pretty open area," DPS Sgt. Orlando Moreno told KSAT-TV. "There (are) no trees but it is very rocky, very hilly."
Investigators with the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will be in charge of the investigation.
VIDEO: Aerials of Kerrville plane crash
An eyewitness who was working near the crash site said he saw the plane coming down fast. Richard Hall said he looked up and thought the plane was way too low, and about 30 seconds later, he said he knew it crashed.
"It went like this (shows plane dropping with hands) twice," Hall said. "Saw it nosedive. It went way left and then straight down."
VIDEO: DPS talks about Kerrville plane crash
Hall and others were working on a house when they saw the plane come down.
"I said this is not good, so I turned around, and within 25 seconds 30 seconds, maybe, I was across the road and I see the electricians run out of the building I said, 'That plane went down, didn't it?' He said, 'Yeah I heard it hit," Hall said.
Hall said he and several others jumped a fence and rushed to try to find the crash site and help. By the time the found it, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers had already arrived.
"It wasn't scattered out like you would think. It was all in one area like he had come down really fast," Hall said.
