LODD: 5 Killed in West Texas Air Ambulance Crash

ALPINE – Five people from West Texas are dead after a medical plane crashed early Sunday morning after taking off from the airport in Alpine. Brewster County Sheriff Ronnie Dodson tells NewsWest9 that his office got a call about a plane going down around 12:15 Sunday morning. www.newswest9.com

Dodson says the plane is a Cessna 421 medical plane that carries patients to hospitals in the Midland-Odessa area when needed.

The Associated Press reports the plane was heading for Midland International Airport before it crashed. The Texas Department of Public Safety says the pilot was apparently trying to make an emergency landing when the plane hit a rut, overturned and burned.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has released the names of the victims.

* Mary Folger, 73, of Midland
* Richard Folger, 78, of Midland
* Sharon Falkner, 49, a medic from Fort Davis
* Tracy Chambers, 42, a medic from Alpine
* Ted Caffarel, 59, a pilot who recently moved to Alpine from Beaumont

DPS says that Mary Folger was the patient on board the plane.

Texas-Fire note : Tracy Chambers had recently retired from Williamson County EMS.

“We’ve had about 4 plane crashes this year you know with just small planes with very minor injuries,” Sheriff Dodson said. “In fact one of them was with this company, but all of them were minor injury plane crashes. Crop duster planes another federal government plane, but this by far is the worst. With two family members, the medics and the pilot.”

“It is something that is very important for us to find out why these accidents are continuing to happen,” NTSB Chief Investigator Jennifer Rodi said. “We’ve issued a pleothra of recommendations to the industry regarding these types of accidents yet unfortunately they seem to continue to occurs. So, with luck maybe we’ll be able to identify something in this particular accident where the change has or has not been made that we’ve recommended. And see if we can provide additional support for those recommendations.”

The crash scene is just northeast of the Alpine airport. FAA officials are at the scene and officials with the NTSB are expected to be in Alpine by Sunday night from Colorado.

AP reports the FAA lists the aircraft as registered to O’Hara Flying Service II LP of Amarillo. Company owner Denny O’Hara declined to comment to The Associated Press.

The plane was on fire and exploded several times when Brewster County Deputies arrived on the scene early Sunday morning, but none of the deputies were injured while responding.

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ALPINE, Texas — An air ambulance crashed shortly after takeoff from a West Texas airport Sunday, killing all five people on board. The crash happened about 12:15 a.m. about a mile east of Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport, about 200 miles southeast of El Paso. The twin-engine Cessna 421 had just taken off for Midland International Airport in Midland, when it went down in an open area, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The aircraft was carrying a patient and his wife to Midland, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. It identified the dead as 78-year-old patient Guy Richard Folger of Alpine, his 59-year-old wife, Mary Folger; two flight nurses, 49-year-old Sharon Falkener of Fort Davis, and 42-year-old Tracy Chambers of Alpine; and 59-year-old pilot Ted Caffarel of Beaumont.

Caffarel was apparently trying to make an emergency landing when the plane hit a rut in the muddy field, overturned and burned, the DPS said.

The FAA listed the aircraft as registered to O’Hara Flying Service II LP of Amarillo. Company owner Denny O’Hara declined to comment to The Associated Press.

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Corey said.