Sheriff, first on scene of Kansas plane crash, calls outcome a 'blessing'

NEAR HOLTON, Kan. - A small plane with three people inside crashed in Kansas Thursday night and the local sheriff calls the outcome a blessing.

Jackson County, Kan., Sheriff Tim Morse was first to arrive at the crash, which happened just before 10 p.m. about four miles west of Holton on N Road.

Morse says the three men were initially trapped inside the plane, but none appeared to have life-threatening injuries.

Two of the men were taken to a Topeka hospital.

According to records, the single engine piper is registered to members of the Hubbell family from Tecumseh.

Morse says the men told him they were on a business trip in North Dakota and were just a little over 30 miles to Billard airport when the cockpit began filling with smoke.

A man living in the home next to the crash alerted authorities.

"He just heard the noise,” Morse said. “What he described to me sounded like a semi coming over the top of the house with a tailgate banging.”

The neighbor ran outside, saw it was an airplane and hollered back at the house to call 911, Morse said.

A crew from the FAA is driving from Wichita to the scene Friday to look over the wreckage and remove it from the road.

_{KSNT Contributed to this Report}