Texas pilot may have saved lives in Branson crash

BRANSON, Mo. -- Texas pilot and dentist Paul Johnson may have saved scores of lives when he crashed his twin-engine plane into a self-storage unit Monday just off the main drag of this resort town, which was bustling at midday even in the offseason.

Johnson, 71, his wife and a befriended couple, all from Texas, died in the fiery crash after he radioed in with mechanical trouble.

The small Piper Seneca, its fuel tanks filled just before takeoff, exploded a safe distance from restaurants, motels, tourist attractions and lunchtime traffic that crowd two-lane Missouri 76, the main thoroughfare through town.

The four victims, all in their 70s and 80s, were friends who often traveled together, officials said.

Federal aviation investigators will comb through the wreckage today and may be able to determine if Johnson deliberately steered the falling plane away from Branson's main strip.

Even in the winter offseason, before Branson gets into full swing in April, midday traffic packed Missouri 76 when the plane went down about 12:30 p.m. It sent up a fireball about 200 feet from the back of a Ruby Tuesday's restaurant, the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum and two large motels.

"It was fortunate to hit the storage facility. It would have been much worse if they had crashed in a population center," Branson police Chief Caroll McCullough said.

Both couples were from Lubbock, Texas, where authorities said the plane was headed.

Soon after the plane took off from Taney County Airport in Point Lookout around 12:15 p.m., the pilot reported some kind of difficulty and tried to return to the airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said.

The plane crashed at 12:30 p.m., said city spokesman Jerry Adams.

Mike Willett, manager of AAA Self Storage Inns, said the plane struck the corner of a building containing 32 units and quickly caught fire, destroying the building.

"The plane shook my house when it hit," said Willett, who lives on the property.

Terry Ware, office manager for T.J. Mechanical Inc., a plumbing company that sits near the property, said she heard the plane going over her office and sounding as if it had serious engine trouble.

"My boss saw it in the air and he said it was making some very erratic movements," she said.

After the plane crashed, she ran to the site and got within 20 feet of the wreckage, which was only partly on fire.

"You could hear the people screaming," she said. "You couldn't get close enough to help them before the fuel went off."

Tweedy said he hadn't heard reports of screaming and said it was unlikely the passengers were still alive after the crash.

"It's almost certain they died instantly because of the severity of the impact," he said.

Both Willett and Ware said they heard what sounded like gunfire after one of the explosions, and said it was probably ammunition going off in one of the storage units.

"The storage units held a whole lot of material that is combustible, and the fuel spread so the fire went up," said Branson Fire Department Division Chief Ted Martin.

At least one storage unit, about 50-by-100 feet, was charred. The tail of the plane lay alone on the ground, the only part that could be seen on a short tour led by fire officials. The entire storage unit was blackened, with white and gray smoke rising from the wreckage and the contents spread all over the ground.

Skies were overcast in the area, but there were no storms or other unusual weather at the time of the crash, the National Weather Service said.

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Associated Press writers David Twiddy and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City contributed to this report.