Small Plane Crashes in Oklahoma, Killing 2

A small plane crashed near a tiny private airstrip in northeastern Oklahoma, killing two people onboard, authorities said.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said the crash occurred just before 10 a.m. Saturday near Airman Acres Airport. Brown said the plane took off and that witnesses heard an engine stall a short time later.

He said it appeared the pilot tried to land on the dirt airstrip at Airman Acres, but the plane crashed in a nearby field and caught fire.

A man and a woman died in the crash but their identities have not yet been released, Brown said.

Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Fort Worth, Texas, said the plane was an RV-4. The fixed wing, single-engine plane is constructed from a kit, according to the manufacturer’s Web site.

The plane’s registered owner is Kevin Scott Covell of Broken Arrow, according to FAA records. It is not known if Covell was aboard the plane when it crashed, Bergen said.

Airman Acres is about 15 miles north of downtown Tulsa and three miles southwest of Collinsville. The airport’s unpaved runway is 2,650 feet long and 230 feet wide.

Airport officials did not immediately return a phone message left by The Associated Press on Saturday.

It’s the second time in less than two years that a fatal crash has occurred near Airman Acres. In September 2008, a small plane that took off from the same airstrip crashed in a rural agricultural area and killed an Oklahoma Highway Patrol captain and another man.