An Iowa banking executive was killed Friday when the small plane she was flying crashed in Missouri as she practiced for an air show. Thirty-six-year-old Chandy Clanton was vice-chair of the Bank Iowa Corporation, a private holding company based in West Des Moines, with seven independently-chartered banks in 21 Iowa communities.
Clanton lived in Lincoln, Nebraska. Bank Iowa was co-founded by Clanton’s father, Harry Barr, a Clarinda (Iowa) native who’s also a pilot. Barr says he’s not sure what caused the crash.
"I don’t try to second-guess the FAA and the NTSB with their investigations," Barr says. "There was a video taken at the time. A very well-qualified fellow performer, along with the FAA, viewed the video. They have reached an analysis of their thought process and when I see the video I may come to the same conclusion."
Barr says his daughter was an accomplished pilot and had been flying since she was a teenager. He doesn’t know yet if the crash was caused by a malfunction, pilot error or something else. "She was doing her normal routine, a practice session, which we saw her do at Clarinda and Seward and the same thing she does at Offut and Oshkosh and so forth," Barr says. "It was nothing new and different from what she’d been doing for a long time."
In addition to her involvement in the banking industry, Barr says his daughter also followed his footsteps into aviation, eventually surpassing his skills in the pilot’s seat. "I soloed her when she was 16 or 17 and got her involved in aerobatics," Barr says. "Of course, in about 2000 or ’99, she passed me up and went on to be a world class performer, as opposed to myself, I couldn’t keep up."
Clanton was a three-time member of the United States Unlimited Aerobatic Team. Clanton’s plane crashed in a bean field near Tarkio, Missouri, in the southwest region of the state. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash. A coroner has confirmed, Clanton died of injuries in the crash, not from any medical condition leading to the crash.
Clanton leaves two sons, ages seven and ten. A public memorial service is tentatively scheduled for Friday in Lincoln.