Witnesses Say Low-Time Student "Buzzed" Homes

An award-winning first lieutenant with the Civil Air Patrol Missouri Wing, Pony Express Composite Squadron, was killed Sunday afternoon when the Cessna 172 he was flying went down in the backyard of a residence near Union Star, MO.

Pilot Waylon Kirtley, 17, had only 10 hours of flight instruction when he took off from Rosecrans Memorial Airport in a 1974 Cessna 172M Skyhawk for a solo run, according to The Associated Press.

"We saw him. It looked like he was showing off. He was coming really close maybe 100 feet off the ground and dropping down to 70 feet," witness Janet Moore told reporters.

Moore said she came outside when she heard a plane that sounded like it was flying too close to her house.

"He dipped like he was going to do a loop de loop. But, when he went up his tail went up and his nose went down and he went straight into the ground," she said.

"It was a big explosion and the ground kind of shook and the electricity went out."

Other witnesses told investigators the aircraft "buzzed" homes in a rural part of Andrew County near St. Joseph just prior to the accident.

Neighbors believe Kirtley may have been trying to get the attention of a relative who lives near where he went down - just yards from a backyard pool where children had been playing just moments before the crash, Fox News Kansas City reported.

"The passenger compartment was burned. The outside of the plane was still intact," said Missouri Highway Patrol Cpl. Corey Root.

In November 2005, Kirtley was awarded the Junior Officer of the Year award at the Missouri Wing Conference.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

No one on the ground was injured.

FMI: www.mowg.cap.gov, www.faa.gov