Story Published:
Jun 26, 2009 at 12:13 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Jun 27, 2009 at 11:47 PM CDT
LAKEVIEW, Ark. -- An airplane crash at Gaston's White River Resort killed three people of the five people onboard on Friday morning. One survivor has minor injuries but the fifth is critically injured. All the victims are from the St. Louis area.
The crash was just after 9 a.m. Friday. Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said the pilot, Warren Langford, 52, and a son, Brendan Langford, 15, of Chesterfield died at the scene. An air ambulance flew Joshua Beckerle, 15, of Eureka to a hospital in Springfield. Ambulances took Joshua's father, Donald Beckerle, 43, and Jacob Ritz, 15, of Bridgeton to the hospital in Mountain Home but the teenager died.
On Saturday, St. John's Hospital in Springfield said Joshua Beckerle was in stable but critical condition. Donald Beckerle was treated and released on Friday, and law officers reunited him with his son.
Witnesses at the scene said the Piper Cherokee Lance airplane was wobbling, tilting from side to side, and seemed to struggle to get airborne as it tried to take off. The plane smashed through a barbed wire fence at the end of the turf runway and crashed into a small grove of trees. The plane's fuselage broke away and rolled down an embankment, ending up about 20 feet from other wreckage.
First responders were on the scene within 15 minutes. They performed CPR and put life support systems on the victims.
The wreckage remained in a private pasture beyond the end of the runway thoughout the day. Also visible were some bags, a shoe and fishing tackle.
Montgomery said the plane is owned by Propaire, a nonprofit organization based in St. Louis. A Web site for the organization described it as a club "devoted to the world of general aviation."
The group flew into Gaston's on Tuesday and was headed back to St. Louis when the plane crashed.
Gaston’s is a well-known trout-fishing resort inside a horseshoe bend on the White River just below Bull Shoals Dam, a mile south of Lakeview. The airstrip is next to the river, and planes that take off follow the water for a ways before climbing over bluffs to leave the river valley.
Law enforcement officers notified the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration about the crash. The FAA had investigators on the scene on Friday afternoon and the NTSB had investigators on the way, as did Piper, the company that made the plane.
