Survivor: "It Came Apart Before It Hit The Ground"

Five people were still missing Wednesday afternoon after a Corporate Airlines Jetstream 32 went down near Kirksville (MO) Tuesday evening. Of the 15 people on board the aircraft, at least two survived. Authorities on the scene have so far confirmed eight fatalities.

Doctors at Northeast Regional Medical Center shook their heads in amazement at the relatively good condition of the survivors -- a 44-year old woman and a 68-year old man. "We see car accidents with worse injuries coming in here every week," Dr. Charles Zeman, director of trauma services, told reporters on the scene. "This is truly a miracle."

There was no word Wednesday on what caused the aircraft to go down while on approach to Kirksville Regional Airport. The pilot's last transmission to ATC didn't indicate any problems. The weather was overcast with mist and embedded storms, but it wasn't immediately known if the weather was a factor.

Investigators did recover the Jetstream's flight recorders. "The black boxes are very important to the investigation, provided they're in good condition," said NTSB member Carol Carmody. "These looked like they were. We never know until we read them out."

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 875JX    Make/Model: JS32   Description: BAe-3200 Jetstream Super 31
 Date: 10/19/2004   Time: 0036

 Event Type: Accident  Highest Injury: Fatal   Mid Air: N  Missing: N
 Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
 City: KIRKSVILLE         State: MO  Country: US

D ESCRIPTION
 CORPORATE AIRLINES, N875JX, A BAE-3200 JESTSTREAM ACFT, CRASHED ON APPROACH
 UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, 15 PERSONS WERE ON BOARD, 8 WERE FATALLY
 INJURED, 2 WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED, 5 ARE UNKNOWN, KIRKSVILLE, MO

INJURY DATA   Total Fatal:  8
         # Crew:  2    Fat:  2   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 
         # Pass: 13    Fat:  6   Ser:  2   Min:  0   Unk:  5
         # Grnd:         Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA
 Activity: Business   Phase: Approach   Operation: Air Taxi (Commuter)

 Departed: SAINT LOUIS, MO       Dep Date: 10/19/2004  Dep. Time: 2357
 Destination: KIRKSVILLE, MO      Flt Plan: IFR     Wx Briefing: U
 Last Radio Cont: 4 M SOUTH OF KIRKSVILLE
 Last Clearance: CHANGE TO ADVSY FREQ

 FAA FSDO: KANSAS CITY, MO (CE05)        Entry date: 10/20/2004

FMI: www.corporateairlines.com