2 killed in small cargo jet crash outside Chicago
WHEELING, IL
Officials said the two were the only people aboard the jet that
crashed into the Des Plaines River in unincorporated Glenview as it
was making its final approach about 1:30 p.m. to Chicago Executive
Airport in Wheeling. The Federal Aviation Administration said a
cause was not immediately clear.
Emergency crews, which included divers, located the two bodies
in the crumpled wreckage by Tuesday evening, Glenview Fire Chief
Wayne Globeberger told reporters at the scene. Cook County Forest
Preserve Police spokesman Steve Mayberry said the bodies would not
be removed from the wreckage until Wednesday morning.
The Learjet Model 35 left Oakland County International Airport
in Waterford, Mich., about 1 p.m. Tuesday, said J. David
Vanderveen, who oversees the county's three airports. Oakland
County International Airport is about 25 miles northwest of
Detroit.
Vanderveen said the jet was empty of cargo, but was to pick up
freight at the Wheeling airport, located about 15 miles northwest
of Chicago.
"There was a pilot and a co-pilot," Vanderveen said. "Both
were commercially rated, which means they were professional
pilots."
The jet was registered to the Waterford-based Royal Air Freight,
according to the FAA. A woman who answered the phone at the company
declined to comment on the crash.
