Crash kills 3

JEANERETTE — Three people were killed Tuesday afternoon when a plane hit by lightning crashed into a neighborhood near the airfield here.

The 1981 twin-engine, fixed-wing Beechcraft 58P took off in Corpus Christi, Texas, at around 2:30 p.m., Federal Aviation Administration records show. On board were pilot Farrel Skelton of Lafayette and his passenger, John Blackburn of Jeanerette. Skelton and Blackburn were pronounced dead at the scene.

A third man, who lived in a mobile home that was impacted by the crash, also died at the scene. Witnesses said Lucien Broussard was pulled from the burning structure by two people who rushed to the crash site.

Richard Harbison, vice president of LCS Corrections Services, said the men in the plane had visited a jail construction site in Corpus Christi.

One official on the scene said that the plane approached the Jeanerette Le Maire Memorial Aiport from the southeast and did a “touch-and-go” — touching down then ascending. The pilot intended to perform a “go-around” and approach the landing strip again when lightning struck the plane, he said.

There was only light rain in the area, but a storm front was coming in from the southeast.

“If lightning hits a plane, all the avionics go out,” said Jeanerette airport commissioner Carol Bourgeois Jr. “If you’re that close to the ground you don’t really have a chance.”

Not even pilot Skelton, who had more than 30 years of experience.

“He was flying us all over Texas, Louisiana and Alabama,” Harbison said.

Because of the lightning impact, the plane lost a wheel just outside the airfield’s fencing. It then scratched a tree and the roofs of two houses before clipping power lines. Seconds later it crashed into a mobile home occupied by Broussard, who reportedly was in his mid-70s. The plane caught fire and exploded.

Eyewitness and neighbor Dennis Clarke was sitting under his carport when it happened.

“The airplane stalled and then crashed into the trailer. The fire was so hot, it even melted my car’s headlights,” Clarke said.

Brian Romero arrived at the scene only minutes later.

“I heard a bang and the electricity went out. I thought a transformer exploded again,” Romero said, “but when I saw the power lines on the street I knew something bad must have happened.”

Even before firefighters arrived at the scene, neighbors tried to rescue Broussard. They were able to pull him out of the flames, but he died minutes later in the ambulance, according to people at the scene.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within an hour, but electricity was out for about 400 homes until late into the night.

The airplane crash will have a long term impact on Jeanerette residents, local people said. Every time a plane flies overhead, they said they will think about the accident.

“The planes always fly so close over our homes,” Romero said.

“We knew, one day it would happen.”