A charter plane taking course to Akron's Fulton Airport crashed in an apartment building in Ohio last Tuesday, November 10, 2015.
According to reports, all nine people on board were presumed dead. No fatalities on ground were reported.
Owner and operator Augusto Lewkowicz confirmed that there were seven passengers and two crew members on board. However, no names will be released yet until all families are notified.
"I owe responses to the family members first," said Lewkowicz.
Hawker H25 business jet was about four miles away from Akron's Fulton Airport when it stumbled over power lines on Mogadore Road and crashed into the Ellet apartment building. Not long after, the charter plane burst into fire. According to witnesses, the tragedy happened at around 2:13 in the afternoon.
The ten-seater plane was on the second leg of a charter which started Monday.
"It was a perfectly well-maintained aircraft with no squawks," said Lewkowicz. He also said that even the pilots were confident that the plane was in a good condition.
Execuflight chartered the flight. Records from FlightAware.com showed that the flight kicked off on Monday from Fort Lauderdale, to St. Paul, Minnesota. It also dropped by Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois and Spirit of St. Louis Airport, Missouri before ending the day at Cincinnati Municipal Airport. On Tuesday, the plane passed by Dayton Wright Brothers Airport before crashing a few miles away from Akron Fulton.
Staff Lt. Bill Haymaker of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler confirmed that the investigation would go on until Wednesday.
"It is a recovery process," Haymaker said. "We know the plane could have held up to 10 people. We know there's family out there that want to know if their loved ones were in the crash. It's going to be a process ... that could go all day long.
"The plane is burnt. That is going to take some time," he said, and added that the site was not a "large debris field."
