GRANITE FALLS, Minn. — A small jet en route to a popular air show in Wisconsin crashed near Granite Falls on Monday evening, killing one man and injuring another.
David Colin Dacus, 46, of San Francisco, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash shortly before 5:30 p.m. Monday. Mark Ryan Ruff, 43, of Dallas, was the surviving occupant.
The jet crashed about 5 miles south of Granite Falls near the Granite Falls Airport.
The men were aboard a 50-year-old military trainer jet known as an Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros. The Czech-built aircraft is registered as N339L to an individual in Alpine, Wyo.
The jet’s two occupants were flying from Watertown, S.D., to Fond du Lac, Wis., to attend the Experimental Aircraft Association show in Oshkosh, Wis. They had flown from Gillette, Wyo., to Watertown on Monday afternoon. Federal Aviation Administration records show they were in the air for 23 minutes, from 5:06 p.m. to 5:29 p.m., after departing Watertown.
The jet made a steady climb while on a route “straight as an arrow” from Watertown, toward Fond du Lac, reaching an altitude of 20,000 feet, according to flight data reviewed by Robert Katz, a commercial pilot in Dallas with 43 years of experience as a pilot and analyzing records of flights.
Katz said that, in his opinion, a rapid climb to 20,000 feet may have stressed the 50-year-old aircraft, but that it would not be unusual to climb to that height for a flight covering the distance between Watertown and Fond du Lac.
The flight data show the jet began a steady descent after it reached its peak altitude. Yellow Medicine County Sheriff Bill Flaten reported that his office had been informed the plane was experiencing engine problems.
The flight path shows the jet made a relatively large, circular loop in the vicinity of the Granite Falls Airport, apparently as part of the attempt to descend for a landing. It made a much smaller loop and descended in seconds at its crash location, according to the FAA data.
At approximately 5:32 p.m. Monday, the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call that an aircraft had crashed. Emergency responders arrived on the scene and assisted the lone survivor.
While at the crash scene, personnel determined that there was an unspent cartridge used for the ejection seats in the jet. The Bloomington Bomb Squad and the 148th Air Wing were called for assistance, according to the sheriff’s office.
“The cartridge was safely removed from the site and a controlled explosion was performed to render it safe,” the news release said.
Investigators with the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board arrived on the scene Tuesday. They are conducting a full investigation into the incident. They will remove the wreckage and examine it at a different location.
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