July 21 -- A 75-year-old airplane owned by a Dallas aviation museum but displayed in Burnet County crashed and burst into flames on the runway at Burnet Municipal Airport while attempting to take off Saturday morning.
There were a number of injuries but no fatalities. The Federal Aviation Administration said 14 people were aboard and all were able to escape the aircraft. Burnet County officials initially reported that 13 were aboard.
One person was taken by helicopter to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio with significant burn injuries, according to the Burnet County sheriff’s office, while seven others with minor injuries were taken to Seton Highland Lakes Hospital.
The twin-engine Douglas DC-3 — a civilian version of the C-47 military transport aircraft — “veered off the edge of the runway and caught fire” at about 9:15 a.m. Saturday, according to the FAA. It was heading to Oshkosh, Wis., to participate in an airshow.
The airplane is registered to American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum Inc. in Dallas.
But a Burnet County affiliate of the organization — the Highland Lakes Squadron Commemorative Air Force — maintained the aircraft and kept it, along with several other airplanes, in a small museum in a hangar at the Burnet airport.
Robbie Galaway, a member of the Highland Lakes group, said those aboard the DC-3 were either fellow members of the organization or their family members. He declined to provide additional details of the people on board.
Galaway said the airplane had been flown on training exercises within the past week with no problems.
The DC-3, as well as grass along the runway, caught fire after the crash, the sheriff’s office said.
The investigation into the cause of the crash is being handled by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
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