Wichita has endured other aviation disasters through the years

Denise Neil, The Kansas City Star on Jan 30, 2025

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Throughout aviation history, plane crashes associated with Wichita have been rare. In fact, Wednesday’s crash of a American Airlines Flight 5342 is the only major fatality accident involving a commercial airliner coming or going from Wichita.

That doesn’t mean Wichita isn’t familiar with airplane tragedy. Two big crashes — one involving the crash of a military plane that killed 30 people, most of them on the ground, in the 1960s, and one that killed 31 Wichita State University football players, staff members and boosters — in the 1970s, are part of the fabric of Wichita’s collective memory.

Otherwise, most of the aircraft tragedies that have affected planes associated with Wichita have involved small private planes or planes associated with the many aircraft manufacturers that have operated in Wichita.

Here’s a look back at the major plane tragedies that have been associated with Wichita over the years:

Piatt Street plane crash

Jan. 15, 1965

Sixty years ago, a Boeing KC-135 refueling tanker carrying more than 30,000 gallons of fuel crashed shortly after takeoff from McConnell Air Force Base into a neighborhood at 20th and Piatt in Wichita.

Today, the crash — which killed 23 people on the ground as well as all seven airmen aboard the plane — is still considered the worst aviation disaster in Kansas history.

A memorial was erected at 2037 N. Piatt, now called Piatt Memorial Park, that includes the names of the 30 victims. The cause of the crash was never definitively determined.

Wichita State University football team plane crash

October 2, 1970

On a clear Colorado afternoon, a chartered twin-engine airplane carrying members of the Wichita State University football team as well as staff members and boosters crashed into a mountain 8 miles west of Silver Plume, Colorado.

The plane, which was on its way to a game vs. Utah State in Logan, Utah, carried 37 passengers and three crew members. Of those, 29 were killed at the scene, and two later died of their injuries. Nearly half of the dead were young football players.

The National Transportation Safety Board later said that pilot error and poor pre-flight planning were to blame for the crash.

Every year, a memorial ceremony is put on at Memorial ‘70, a stone tribute at 18th and Hillside.

Other tragedies

Sept. 15, 2015: The pilot of a Cessna 310 died after his plane crashed into a wooded area near Cowskin Creek at Maple and Maize.

Oct. 30, 2014: A Beechcraft King Air B200 slammed into the roof of the nearby FlightSafety building at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport shortly after taking off. The accident killed four people: the pilot and three people inside the building. The NTSB later cited pilot inaction as the probable cause of the crash.

Oct. 10, 2000: A Bombardier Challenger 604 business jet on a test flight from Mid-Continent crashed on take-off. It went through a fence on the edge of the airport, and burned on Tyler Road. All three aboard – pilot Bryan Irelan, co-pilot Eric Fiore and flight-test engineer David Riggs – died from injuries sustained in the crash.