The Norman Transcript

State/Region

Discussion

March 20, 2013

Fuselage removed from home after crash

Associated Press Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Barricades were removed Tuesday from the northern Indiana neighborhood where a private jet plowed into three houses, killing two people and injuring three others, after a crane lifted a large section of the battered fuselage from a house, placed it on a truck and hauled it to a hangar where investigators will sift through the remains.

All of the South Bend residents who were evacuated following Sunday’s crash, except for those living in the three homes that were struck, were allowed to return home Tuesday.

“It sure does feel good to be home,” said Stan Klaybor, who lives across the street from the homes that were struck.

Frank Sojka said he’d never really worried about living so close to the South Bend Regional Airport until the jet sheared the roof off the house where he’s lived for 55 of his 84 years.

“I never worried about it, but I thought about it,” he said with a chuckle. “Now I’m worried about it.”

Sojka said he was in the front bedroom Sunday when he heard a loud, dull sound and went to his living room.

“I could see the sky through the ceiling and all kinds of debris in the far end of the living room,” he said.

The private jet originating from Tulsa crashed into three homes Sunday, killing former Oklahoma quarterback Steve Davis who led Oklahoma to back-to-back national championships in the 1970s, and his friend, Wes Caves, a Tulsa businessman.

Davis, 60, and Caves, 58, were the jet’s flight crew. Funeral services for both are still pending in Tulsa.

The crash occurred after two aborted attempted landings at South Bend Regional Airport. It wasn’t immediately clear who was at the controls when it crashed.

Two passengers and a woman residing in one of the damaged homes remained hospitalized Tuesday.

Nearly 8,000 small private planes take off and land at the northern Indiana airport each year, said Michael Guljas, the airport’s director of administration and finance. But in his 30 years working at the airport, he has never seen anything like Sunday’s crash.

For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
State/Region
  • Okla. legislature adjourned early

    OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma lawmakers adjourned the 2013 Legislature on Friday one week earlier than required, wrapping up a session that saw Gov. Mary Fallin advance her agenda to reduce taxes and overhaul the state workers’ compensation ...

    May 25, 2013

  • Safe room mandates remain rare in tornado states

    MOORE, Okla. — After living nearly 20 years in their one-story brick home, Sherry and Larry Wells finally won the lottery — for a state rebate on a home storm shelter, that is. A contractor finished installing the concrete bunker beneath ...

    May 25, 2013

  • Tornado took town’s youngest as it swept through Moore

    MOORE — One loved the spotlight. Another was nicknamed “The Wall” because of the force he brought to the soccer field. When a top-of-the-scale EF-5 tornado ripped through Moore, it took with it 24 lives. Seven of them were children at ...

    May 24, 2013

  • Families mourn children lost in tornado

    MOORE — Nicknamed “The Wall,” 8-year-old Kyle Davis loved soccer and going to Monster Truck exhibitions at the fairgrounds with his grandfather. JaNae Hornsby, 9, loved to draw, sing, and be a big sister and cousin to her younger ...

    May 23, 2013

  • House passes GOP bill to speed pipeline approval

    WASHINGTON — House Republicans pushed through a bill Wednesday to bypass the president to speed approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. Democrats criticized the legislation as a blatant attempt to allow a foreign ...

    May 23, 2013

  • House panel approves $40M for museum

    OKLAHOMA CITY — A plan to divert $40 million in use taxes over three years to help complete construction of an American Indian Cultural Center and Museum along the banks of the Oklahoma River has cleared a House committee....

    May 21, 2013

  • Tornadoes level homes in Oklahoma

    SHAWNEE — One of several tornadoes that touched down Sunday in Oklahoma turned homes in a trailer park near Oklahoma City into splinters and rubble and sent frightened residents along a 100-mile corridor scurrying for shelter....

    May 20, 2013

  • Legislators unlikely to tackle tax credits

    OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite calls by several Oklahoma legislators to address hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax credits and exemptions for businesses and industries, little has been done....

    May 19, 2013

  • Fallin urges last-minute health care fix

    OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Mary Fallin proposed a last-minute legislative change Friday to the state’s Insure Oklahoma program that would direct $50 million in state tobacco taxes to pay for more than 9,000 people who are expected to lose their ...

    May 18, 2013

  • Lawmakers near passage of DNA test bill

    OKLAHOMA CITY — Convicted criminals who maintain their innocence would have a way to seek DNA testing to help prove their cases under a bill that is nearing final passage in the Legislature and would eliminate Oklahoma’s dubious ...

    May 18, 2013