Brookings pilot, passengers headed to SDSU football game injured in fiery crash
Airplane wreckage remains at airport where single-engine Beechcraft went down
Three occupants aboard an airplane headed to Montana for a Jackrabbits football game survived a fiery crash Saturday morning in Brookings.
First responders in Brookings County were called to the scene of downed aircraft around 9 a.m. after a Beechcraft, single-engine, four-seat plane had crashed on the property of the Brookings Regional Airport.
The plane crashed approximately an eighth of a mile from the runaway and 75 yards from the southwest gate off of 16th Avenue West, according to the Brookings Police Department.
Just after take-off, at about an altitude of 200 feet, it may have experienced partial engine loss and the pilot turned the aircraft around in an attempt to return to the airport, authorities say.
While turning back, the aircraft may have experienced complete engine failure and according to witnesses, the aircraft nose-dived into the ground. The aircraft crashed in the southwest corner of the airport grounds. The aircraft was quickly engulfed in flames upon the exit of all three occupants.
The Brookings Fire Department responded and extinguished the burning aircraft and the Brookings Ambulance treated and transported the three occupants to Brookings Hospital initially for non-life threatening injuries.
The pilot, identified as Evan Koep, age 32, from Brookings, sustained contusions, abrasions and burns. He was later airlifted to a Sioux Falls hospital for further treatment.
The front-seat passenger, Hayden Kerkart, age 29, sustained contusions, abrasions and burns. Kerkart was also later airlifted to a Sioux Falls hospital in Sioux Falls.
The rear-seat passenger, Caden Walkes, age 28, sustained minor contusions and abrasions and is being treated at Brookings Hospital.
The aircraft is still at the scene and awaiting investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
