Witnesses say plane was in trouble before Kerrville crash

KERRVILLE, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - The area where a plane carrying six people went down is off of Sheppard Rees Road, less than a mile from the Kerrville state hospital in Kerrville, Texas.

The plane flew over Richard Hall, who was working nearby. Hall could not hear if the plane was having engine problems because he was driving a Bobcat on a job site at the time, but he knew it was in trouble.

“I saw a twin prop plane that was way too low man,” said Hall. "I could not hear the engine but I watched it slowly start to lose altitude in drops, probably could not have been more than literally 400 feet above me."

A team with the FAA spent the afternoon doing a preliminary review of the crash, according to DPS spokesperson Sgt. Orlando Moreno. Local authorities closed off access at the entrance to the private ranch where the plane crashed into a ravine.

The plane is a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron with six people on board. No one survived. Flight records indicate the trip originated from the West Houston Airport near Katy. It’s believed the pilot was trying to land at the Kerrville Municipal Airport.

Rodney Simmons said the engine noise from the plane caught his attention as it flew over. 

“Just heard this airplane fighting against the wind, it was flying pretty low right over my head, tail end of it was flying really low lower than normal as if it was was just trying to keep it up,” said Simmons. "It was coming in this direction and I was watching him bank to the right, started bank and to the right, flipped upside down and nose dived right to the ground."

Moments after the crash, Hall said he and another man jumped the fence and tried to find survivors. 

“The plane was literally about that much left of it, about 3 foot- 4 foot high, you would think there would be more wreckage but it look like it just came down and hit the ground like a can and flattened it out,” said Hall.

Identities of the victims were not immediately released pending notification of next of kin. The bodies were taken to Austin for an autopsy.

The plane has not been removed in order to let investigators with the NTSB examine the wreckage.