LANDER, Wyo. (AP) – A pair of airplane crashes Sunday morning, one in central Wyoming and the other in eastern South Dakota, each claimed one life. Federal investigators have been working at both crash sites.
The Fremont County. Wyo, Sheriff’s Office says a 33-year Lander man was killed when the plane piloted by Scott Fitzgerald of Port Angeles, WA, crashed into Frye Lake southwest of Lander in Shoshone National Forest
Witnesses told deputies the plane flew low and wobbled before plunging into the lake and catching fire. Fitzgerald got out of the water with the help of nearby campers, then was taken to the Lander hospital before being flown to an out-of-state facility where his condition is unknown.
Search and rescue workers later removed the body of the passenger, whose name has not been released, and the wreckage of the plane from Frye Lake.
Sioux Falls Regional Airport executive director Dan Letellier says the pilot of a small cargo plane was killed about 4:00 am when it crashed during takeoff. The pilot, whose name has not yet been released, was the only person on board when the twin-engine Mitsubishi went down.
Letellier says the cargo run from the Seattle to Huron, SD, had been diverted to Sioux Falls around 1:40 a.m. because of thunderstorms in the Huron area. The plane had just taken off for the short jump to Huron when it developed some type of problem and crashed about a half mile from the runway.