Three EagleMed air ambulance crew members died early Tuesday morning when their plane crashed in a field several miles north and west of the Dodge City Regional Airport.
EagleMed, which is based in Wichita, identified the victims as pilot Brandon Bow, Dallas, Texas; medical crew member Jonathan Dye, Meade; and medical crew member Jennifer Hauptman of Coldwater. Bow and Dye had been with EagleMed since 2002, and Hauptman joined the company in 2003.
The plane was not carrying any patients.
The story began at about 2:10 a.m. Tuesday as the plane was returning from Wichita Mid-Continent Airport to its base in Dodge City, EagleMed said in a press release.
"At approximately 3 a.m., all contact was lost with the aircraft, and at approximately 3:25 a.m., a crash was reported northwest of Dodge City Regional Airport," the company said. "As rescue personnel arrived at the scene, it was quickly determined that there were no survivors."
EagleMed said it would continue providing air ambulance service throughout its six-state coverage area in honor of the victims.
This was the first crash in the company's 22-year history, according to the company's Web site.
The response to the crash involved several local, state and federal agencies, ranging from the Ford County Sheriff's Office and Kansas Highway Patrol to the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
KHP Master Trooper Jeff Knobbe, who spoke to reporters at the scene of the crash late Tuesday morning, said the plane was a twin-engine 1968 Beechcraft King Air 90. The remains of the plane were still on fire when Knobbe arrived on the scene, and the wreckage was spread out over about one-quarter of a mile.
"There's basically nothing left," he said.
He said officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were expected to arrive later in the day to investigate what might have caused the crash.
Officials from the FAA's Wichita office did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday afternoon, but a preliminary report on the agency's Web site said the circumstances of the crash were unknown.
Airport manager Mike Klein said when he was notified about the crash at 3:28 a.m., the skies were clear with no fog or wind. He noted that the cause of the crash was still unknown.
"This is kind of a tough situation, because everything is speculative," Klein said. "It's just a bad situation. Our prayers go to the families."
The farm where the crash occurred belongs to Dodge City resident Larry Owens, whose son, Bryan, was visiting his parents Monday night.
Bryan said he was awake early Tuesday morning and heard the sound the plane made in the final moments before the crash, and he called 911 to report the incident before he went outside to investigate.
Bryan's father followed him to the scene a few moments later.
"First was the full-throttle sound of two screaming engines," Bryan said. "I would say count one, two, three, and then the explosion. And feeling the explosion, I got up. It shook me up and probably within 10 seconds, I was at the site."
Bryan said the air was completely still as he approached the crash scene, and it was so quiet he could hear his heart beating. He hoped to find someone had survived the crash, but his hopes were in vain.
He said the plane hit the end of the field first, then went through a stand of trees and struck the ground again before colliding with some farm equipment.
The remnants of the wreck -- the crew's clothing, luggage and paperwork, fuel from the engine and fragments of the destroyed plane -- were strewn across the field.
"The sight that I'll never forget was that trail of fuel," Bryan said. "You know, the trail of fuel, the flame, was at least 100 to 200 yards -- just flames."
