None of the three crew members on board a US Convair 580 freighter has survived after the aircraft crashed shortly after departing its base at Columbus' Rickenbacker Airport.
Initial indications suggest the aircraft, operated by Columbus-based cargo carrier Air Tahoma, was on a training flight before yesterday's accident.
Ohio-based fire service support sources have identified the aircraft as being registered N587X, which Flight's ACAS database lists as a 52-year old example owned by the carrier.
The aircraft, fitted with twin Allison 501-D13 engines, had logged over 71,900 hours and 115,700 cycles.
Preliminary information states that the Convair came down in a corn field about 3km southwest of Rickenbacker Airport. The fire support source states that none of the three crew members on the aircraft - two pilots and an instructor - survived the crash.
"Fire crews were hampered by access issues due to the aircraft coming to rest several hundred yards from a road, in the middle of a local farm's corn field," it adds.
Meteorological data shows weather conditions at Rickenbacker Airport at the time of the accident, about 12:00, were good.
The airport is sited 16km southeast of Columbus city centre, and specialises in freight operations.
It has two parallel runways, 5L/23R and 5R/23L. The crash site is close to the approach and departure paths to the southwest of the airport, but the aircraft's phase of flight at the time is unclear.
Air Tahoma suffered a fatal Convair 580 accident on approach to Cincinnati four years ago, which investigators attributed to fuel starvation following incorrect fuel-crossfeed procedures.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
