Business jet crashes in Tennessee, killing all 4 on board

USPA News - A business jet carrying four people crashed Monday in an open field outside a building belonging to the Young Men`s Christian Association (YMCA) in Tennessee, killing everyone on board and damaging vehicles on the ground, local and federal officials said. The accident happened at 4:57 p.m. local time on Monday when a twin-engine Gulfstream 690C aircraft was approaching John C. Tune Airport in Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, and crashed in a field next to Bellevue YMCA, about 10 miles (16.1 kilometers) south of the airport.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the aircraft had earlier departed from Great Bend Municipal Airport in Great Bend, Kansas, with four people on board. It was carrying out a second approach when it crashed in the field, where photos showed it was fully engulfed in flames. "I know that the bodies of three individuals have been recovered thus far, but keep in mind that the wreckage is strewn for a distance of about 80 yards (73 meters) besides the YMCA," said police spokesman Don Aaron. "The trees in the back of the YMCA were impacted by the plane as it came to the ground. The crash obviously was a hard crash into the ground, judging from the debris field." Aaron said the cause of the crash was not immediately known, but emphasized there was no evidence of foul play. "[The plane] was coming around for a second approach when something caused it to be very low. There is a report that it maybe banked just a bit, impacted the trees and went down," he said. A fire department official said several vehicles in YMCA`s parking lot were also damaged by debris from the wreckage, though there were no reports of injuries on the ground. The victims of Monday`s crash were not immediately identified, but Bergen said the aircraft was registered in Kansas. Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) responded to the scene and will conduct investigations to determine the probable cause of the crash.