Plane Impacted A Hangar Home At Aero Estates

A Piper PA-46 Meridian went down Sunday evening at an Airpark east of Belleville, IL. The flight's intended destination was Parks Downtown Airport in St. Louis. Both the pilot and the passenger on board the plane were killed in the crash.

File Photo

The airplane crashed into a hangar home at the airpark, but no one on the ground was injured in the incident. Eight fire departments from the surrounding area responded to the ensuing blaze from the crash. Neighbors said the residents of the house had gone out to dinner.

Sources tell St. Louis television station KTVI that the airplane made two attempts to land at the airpark before crashing. The flight plan filed by the pilot, tentatively identified as Don Estelle of St. Louis, showed he intended to fly from Vero Beach, FL to Parks Airport in Cahokia, IL, also called St. Louis Downtown Airport (KCPS). It is still not known if he intended to land at Aero Estates, or if weather played a factor in his attempt to land there. Resident's said the plane did not belong to anyone living in the development. Estelle was finance director of Commerce Bank of St. Louis.

The passenger in the plane was tentatively identified as Robert Clarkson, president of Industrial Steam Products Inc in East St. Louis.

The NTSB is investigating the accident which also destroyed two airplanes and a classic car in the hangar attached to the house hit by the Meridian.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov