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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Planes collide in midair; one hits school


Investigators look over a float plane involved in a midair collision Thursday in Renton, Wash. The pontoons on the plane were bent by the collision before the plane landed in the grass between the runway and the taxiway. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press

RENTON, Wash. – A midair collision Thursday between two light planes over this south Seattle suburb sent one plane crashing through the roof of an empty school, killing the two people aboard, officials said.

The second aircraft, a float plane, landed safely at the nearby Renton airport, with the five people aboard escaping serious injury, according to one passenger’s account.

Renton police spokeswoman Penny Bartley confirmed two deaths in the plane that crashed into Kennydale Elementary School.

Federal Aviation Administration duty officer Karen Byrd in Seattle said the deceased appeared to be the only passengers aboard the single-engine Cessna 152.

“There’s no flight plan on file, but from what the fire department told me there was just two people on board,” Byrd said.

The victims were not immediately identified.

The two-story school building was closed for remodeling after classes ended in June and was empty at the time of the crash, Bartley said.

Byrd said the midair collision occurred about 5:45 p.m.

The planes were approaching the Renton airport, at the south end of Lake Washington, when the collision happened, she said.

“Both aircraft were coming in from the north … and were pretty much side by side,” Byrd said.

The float plane ended up parked on grass next to a runway, and fire trucks were monitoring fuel leaking from that plane, Byrd said.

The float plane appeared to have flown from a resort in Barclay Sound, B.C., the FAA’s Mike O’Connor said.

Officials could not immediately determine where the Cessna was from, O’Connor said.

Fred Bahr, the pilot of the float plane, told KING-TV there was little warning before the collision.

“All of a sudden I just saw a red and white flash just go under us, and that’s all I saw,” he said. “Just a momentary flash of red and white.”

The impact “literally just relocated the floats to the right. They were at about a 30-degree angle,” he added. “It’s kind of strange when you look outside there to see a float and you don’t see one.”

At that point, float plane passenger Lee McEachron told KING, “the pilot made the decision it was not safe to land on the water so we opted to put it on the grass. Everybody got out fine.”

The float plane circled the Renton tower so airport officials could assess damage before it came in for a landing.

The Renton airport is about 25 minutes south of downtown Seattle and is used mostly by small aircraft.