MINA, S.D. (KFGO) – A Learjet carrying five people, including professional golfer Payne Stewart, crashed in a remote South Dakota field 20 years ago Friday (Oct. 25, 1999.)
The jet was heading from Florida to Texas when the aircraft apparently lost cabin pressure, causing everyone aboard to become unconscious.
South Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Kevin Bakke was among the first on the scene. “A couple of officers put binoculars on it and watched it. They indicated that they thought maybe it looked like a parachute had come out. But then, as they followed it further with binoculars, they saw it was the aircraft coming down.”
Rochelle Brown, who lived nearby, said she saw the plane spin before it hit the ground. “We got there fairly quickly. There was a slight smoldering from the hole that it was in, but it was surrounded by hay bales and hills.”
Then-Gov. Bill Janklow spoke with KFGO News at the scene of the crash, a few miles west of Aberdeen. “The word I got from federal officials indicate that as early as Gainesville, Florida in the flight, they knew that they were going to have a problem” Janklow said.
Two North Dakota Air National Guard F-16’s from Fargo intercepted the plane and reported that its windows were fogged with ice and there was no sign that anyone aboard was conscious.
The Learjet was operating on autopilot, but crashed after it ran out of fuel. Everyone aboard was killed.
