Plane crashes into Northwest Austin office building
Thursday, February 18, 2010, 11:23 AM A plane crashed into a Northwest Austin building that houses federal offices about 9:30 this morning, sending plumes of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.
Paramedics have set up a triage center at the scene, though it is unclear how many people are injured.
“We have no idea right now if there are any patients, or how many,” Austin-Travis County EMS Assistant Director James Shamard said.
Mathilda Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the Seton Family of Hospitals, said University Medical Center Brackenridge received two patients, and that no other hospitals had received any.
Witnesses say the building is the Echelon 1 building, which is in the 9400 block or Research Boulevard.
EMS officials said it was a seven-story building and that one person was unaccounted for. A witness said it was the Echelon I building.
According to an FBI agent who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to release information, the incident is being investigated as an accident, although eyewitnesses said the plane seemed to come in at full throttle. He said the plane was out of Waco and that Federal Aviation Administration officials are en route to the scene.
The agent said it was believed the plane had come from Waco, and that
witnesses said it had hit the building at full-throttle.FBI sources said that the eyewitness accounts saying that the plane did not slow down is making some authorities wonder if it was an intentional act.FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the building hit by a plane at the Echelon office complex did not contain an FBI office. While the FBI has an office at the complex, the plane did not crash into that particular building, Carter said.
William Winnie, an Internal Revenue Service agent, said he was in a training session on the third floor of the building when he saw a light-colored, single engine plane coming at the building.
“It looked like it was coming right in my window,” Winnie said. He said the plane veered down and to the left and crashed into the floors below. “I didn’t lose my footing, but it was enough to knock people who were sitting to the floor.”
The building mostly houses IRS offices, said Kathi Hall, with KVSA Asset Management, which manages the property.
Chris Messer was driving to work about 9:50 a.m. when he was on the flyover exiting MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) to northbound U.S. 183 when he saw a small, single-engine yellow plane in his peripheral vision.
“It flew right in front of me and flew right square into the building,” said Messner, 27. “The fireball was pretty big. It shook my car and the heat came in from my air vents. I was surprised how big the explosion is.”Messner said the explosion was “as wide as the entire building.”“The tail was down slightly like it was trying to pull up a little bit,” Messner said. “It happened really fast.”
Sarah Whelan, 28, was also driving on the overpass from MoPac onto U.S. 183 north on her way to work when she saw the plane on her right, flying low over the shops across the street from the building that was hit.
She said all the cars in front of me started slowing down because
the plane looked like it could it land on the highway.
“It wasn’t heading into the direction of the building but all of a sudden it took a right and headed straight into it,” Whelan said. “It didn’t look like it was in distress. It wasn’t wavering at all.“The first thing I did was start praying and saying, ‘I can’t believe it.’” she said. “It was a feeling of disbelief and helplessness.”
Tucker Thurman was driving to work on the U.S. 183 flyover near MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) when he said he saw a small plane, very low, flying over the highway. He said he saw it then bank heavily to the right before heading into the building.
“There was a huge fireball. It went right into the building,” Thurman said.
EMS officials said they have taken at least two patients to the hospital, but that there are several “walking wounded” at the scene.
Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr said that the department has gone into a “defensive position,” meaning that firefighters have been ordered to retreat from the building because of the danger.
Fire department officials said EMS has begun taking people to University Medical Center Brackenridge.
Photo: Claudia Grisales/American-Statesman
Cayce Watkins, a server at the Marie Callender’s restaurant at 9503 Research Boulevard across 183 from where the plane crashed, said: “It rattled our windows.”
Watkins said employees heard the roar of the plane and then a boom.
“There was a loud boom, and our windows, our entire building shook,” said Darla LaTour, an operations manager at the Candlewood Suites Extended Stay Hotel, which is about a quarter-mile from the accident site. “When we got out there already were sirens coming.”
Mischelle Diaz, a spokeswoman for St. Edward’s University, said the plane hit a building in the Echelon business complex next to a building where the university’s Professional Education Center provides software training and teaches some graduate students. She said the education center has been evacuated and that university officials were trying to confirm that students and instructors all got out safely.
“We’re just desperately trying to get some information,” Diaz said.
Stuart Newberg was at a nearby Lexus dealership shortly before 10 a.m. when he said he saw a plane flying low and fast overhead.
“It was flying low and fast and I did a double take. I thought it was a play remote control plane. Then i saw the smoke,” Newberg said.
When asked if the plane seemed to be out of control, he said it seemed “very controlled.”Get the latest crime reports in your neighborhood with the Statesman's Crime Tracker.
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