CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A commuter plane crashed into a maintenance hangar and burst into flames Wednesday at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, killing all 21 people aboard.





There were initial reports of missing people on the ground, but airport Aviation Director Jerry Orr said everyone had been accounted for.

The plane, a twin-engine Beech 1900 turboprop, was carrying 19 passengers and two crew members when it crashed shortly after takeoff in clear and windy weather.

"The airplane just barely hit one corner of the hangar," Orr said. "We don't know what happened other than it was unable to maintain altitude."

FBI agent-in-charge Chris Swecker said there were no preliminary indications of terrorism in the crash.

"The plane is so destroyed there's not much to see," said police spokesman Keith Bridges. "The debris is in such bad shape."

Christopher White of the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was flight 5481 of Air Midwest, operating for US Airways Express. It was bound for the Greenville-Spartanburg airport in Greer, S.C., FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.

The 8-year-old plane was one of about 50 operated by Mesa Air Lines, parent of Air Midwest, said US Airways. The plane had been flown 15,000 hours and performed 21,000 takeoffs and landings.

The crash occurred just outside a hangar, and all the debris was outside, Bridges said. Several hours after the crash, smoke was still pouring from the wreckage and none of the bodies had been removed.

The plane veered into the hangar, and witnesses told WCNC-TV it came down on its back. Video from the scene after the crash showed smoldering wreckage and a charred side of the hangar.

Orr said other people feared missing on the ground had been found alive and uninjured. No one inside the hangar, which was a US Airways maintenance facility, was injured, he said.

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