Plane crashes into Akron apartment building; 9 die

Nine passengers were killed when their small, twin-engine plane crashed into an apartment building at Mogadore Road and Skelton Road in Akron around 3 p.m. today.

That makes it the deadliest plane crash in Akron history.

An Ohio State Highway Patrol spokesperson said the plane was a Hawker Siddeley HS-125, a British corporate jet. It was trying to land at Akron's Fulton Municipal Airport.

The flight began in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, stopped in Dayton and then took off for Akron.



It was chartered by Execuflight, a Florida company.  
Augusto Lewkowicz is the owner and operator of the plane. The company owns Staples and Panera on Howe Avenue in the Chapel Hill business complex. The passengers were executives and employees of Florida-based Pebb Enterprises, a real estate company.

The crash caused at least 1,500 customers to lose power and Ohio Edison officials said all but 100 customers were restored in a few hours.


The Akron Fire Department had several units at the scene.

To read Craig Webb’s excellent BJ sidebar on another multi-fatality plane crash in Akron history, click  on

http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/death-toll-from-tuesday-s-crash-is-deadliest-air-disaster-in-summit-county-history-eclipsing-world-war-ii-crash-toll-1.639510