4 Dead In Small Plane Crash In Sioux Falls

SIOUX FALLS, SD - Four people are dead after the crash of a small two-engine plane near the Sioux Falls Airport Regional Airport this afternoon.

The chartered plane contained three passengers and one pilot, according to Sioux Falls Fire Rescue Chief Jim Sideras. The Cessna 421-C. departed Joe Foss Field at 2:24 p.m. and was headed to Rapid City.

Sideras says the plane experienced trouble shortly after take-off and tried to make it back to the airport, but crashed blocks away in a field. He isn’t sure whether there was any communication between the plane and air traffic control before it went down.

“It is a shell of a plane,” Sideras says. “There was significant fire because of the large amount of fuel.”

A witness tells KELOLAND News the plane circled the airport and then went straight down into the ground and exploded. There was billowing, black smoke coming from the plane. That witness also called 911.

Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether was at the crash site. “It’s an incredibly sad deal,” Huether said. “Response was immediate, but it’s an incredibly sad thing. There are four families here that are impacted in a very sad way.”

Sioux Falls Police Chief Doug Barthel says the area will be blocked off for several days while out of state experts come to investigate the crash. The victims’ identities have not been released.

The chartered plane was registered to S&S Aviation, based out of Ipswich, South Dakota.

“It’s been a number of years since we’ve had a plane crash here” Sideras says. “It’s a rare occurrence to have happen.”

We have several news crews working on this story and will have updates on KELOLAND.com and KELOLAND News at 5, 6 and 10.

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