A plane carrying pro-golfer Payne Stewart crashed in a rural section ofnortheast South Dakota at about 12:30. The plane veered sharply off-course,flying in Iowa air space late this morning. Stewart’s jet took off at aboutnine a-m from Orlando, headed for Dallas. But the plane veered off course,flying on “auto-pilot” over Iowa. Military jets shadowed the plane, asneither the pilot nor co-pilot were responding to air traffic controllers. The military pilots saw the jet’s windows were frosted over, indicating aproblem with air pressure in the cabin. Michael Klein is the manager ofSioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, which was on alert. Klein says theywere prepared to implement emergency procedures if needed.Ten years ago, Sioux City’s airport was the site of the crash-landing ofUnited Flight 2-32. Klein says this incident did bring back some memories ofthat event. Klein says today’s incident is the type of thing seen on”television movies.”The Lear Jet carrying the pro-golfer and his associates reached a height of48-thousand feet, which Klein says is very high.The July 19, 1989 crash of United Flight 2-32 killed one-hundred-12 people. One-hundred-84 survived. Everyone aboard the plane carrying Stewart waskilled in the crash.
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