Plane Crashed After Apparent Gear Collapse

A passenger onboard a Beechcraft Baron 58 died Saturday afternoon, and two others were injured, when their plane cartwheeled off a small airstrip in Oklahoma.

Arlington, TX resident Bobby Blanchard was accompanying friends to celebrate his 50th birthday at McGehee Catfish Restaurant, an eatery on the Texas-Oklahoma border that sports a 2,500-foot turf runway (T40), when the plane's landing gear apparently collapsed on landing.

"First thing I saw was just kind of cloudy sky and I just thought it was kind of dust flying in the air," restaurat owner Wanda Shellenberger told KTEN-10. "The next thing I knew, a lady had run in and told me that a plane had burst into flames."

Pilot Michael Phillips, 34, was flown to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, TX and admitted in stable condition. One passenger, Calvin Carter, was taken to an area hospital but later released; the fourth person onboard, Roger Burke, declined treatment at the scene.

Investigators with the FAA and NTSB were on the scene Sunday.

Report created 3/19/2007   Record 1
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IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 584DP        Make/Model: BE58      Description: 58 Baron
  Date: 03/17/2007     Time: 1411

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

LOCATION
  City: MARIETTA   State: OK   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  ACFT ON LANDING, GEAR FAILED AND SPUN OFF THE RUNWAY, AND BURST INTO
  FLAMES, THERE WERE FOUR PERSONS ON BOARD, ONE WAS FATALLY INJURED, TWO
  SUSTAINED SERIOUS INJURIES, MARIETTA, OK

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   1
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   1     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   3     Fat:   1     Ser:   1     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: KADM 1855Z 20008G15KT 10SM SKC 20/40 A3013

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Pleasure      Phase: Landing      Operation: OTHER

  Departed: DALLAS, TX                  Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination:                          Flt Plan:              Wx Briefing: 
  Last Radio Cont: 
  Last Clearance: 

  FAA FSDO: OKLAHOMA CITY, OK  (SW15)             Entry date: 03/19/2007

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov