We're still trying to do our jobs," he said. What happened after that "is just a blur," he said. "I don't ever want to see that again," managing editor Chuck Musgrove said of the footage. The cameraman caught the crash on tape, which the station broadcast, minus the sound of the his reaction. " The station received word of the accident just moments after it happened from KFOR employees at the site. In fact, we've had a number of members of the clergy coming by to help with staff members who are going through, boy, a tougher day I don't think we've had in this business. " Anchorman Devin Scillian said, "We've had a lot of phone calls, a lot of well-wishers, some dropping by. She was a warm spot in our newsroom, and the glow won't ever be quite as bright without her. "When it comes to someone as young and bright as Kathy, it's doubly tragic. "Death is always hard for us to accept," Katsafanas said in a written statement. Jones is survived by her husband, Ray Preston, also a reporter for KFOR, and their 10-month-old son, Gage.īill Katsafanas, Channel 4's vice president and general manager, flew to the scene with Jones' husband. The aircraft were scheduled to be on display at Aerospace America '94 at Will Rogers World Airport July 15-17. The video camera can show one of three views - the pilot, a cockpit-wide shot and a "gun" view ahead of the plane.
The recorder captures radio and nonradio conversations between the pilot and passenger, she said.
#Kfor news anchor killed code#
Sharon Baker, spokeswoman for Air Strikes International, said the planes, which were code named Nightmare 503 and 504, were both equipped with an on-board video camera and an audio recorder that probably survived the crash. He said the crew tried life-saving procedures on the way to the hospital, but she died a short time later.īoth Jones and Stevens died of massive injuries, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said. Kingfisher Ambulance responded to the call for help, and a spokesman there said Jones had a faint pulse. When he arrived, Pittman said he saw Jones lying unconscious about 15 feet north of the plane. He said someone in the helicopter with a cellular phone made the 911 call to report the crash. ĭover Police Chief Jerry Pittman said when he arrived at the crash site, the Channel 4 helicopter already had landed on the river's sandbar to help. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported the pilot was doing a Lazy Eight maneuver and the fuselage hit the ground. They come in on a high speed run, pull up and kick in the left rudder," Mastalka said. "I've seen crop dusters do the same maneuver. KWTV reporter Mike Carpenter, who was covering the story for his station, Channel 9, said plane crashes are the second-leading cause of death for television reporters, falling only behind heart attacks.Īfter seeing KFOR's film of the crash, Kingfisher County Civil Defense Director Danny Mastalka said the pilot executed what looked to him like a wingover turn. Other reporters milled around, talked quietly with each other, remembering all the times their assignments took them up in airplanes, to hostage situations or to shootings. A trail of aircraft pieces led northwest to the rest of the wreckage.Īn hour after the crash he was leaning against one of the station's vans, still visibly shaken, tears streaming down his cheeks. A few yards to the northwest, the plane's bent propeller sat on the sandbar. Pieces of the aircraft marked the impact spot. The plane hit in shallow water on the south side of a sandbar. Tragically, the plane didn't have enough altitude and plunged into the riverbed about 100 yards north of the bridge, officials said. Both pilots popped up over the old iron bridge on the county road two miles west of Dover.īut while one continued on to Wiley Post Airport, the other did not.įor some reason, pilot Maurice "Skip" Stevens, 38, decided to do one more aerobatic maneuver. The dogfight completed, the pilots headed their two-seat propeller-driven aircraft east, flying low and following the course of the Cimarron River. Kathy Jones, 30, a KFOR reporter and weekend anchorwoman, was a passenger in one of the two Marchetti F-260 planes owned by Air Strikes International Inc. It was 9:30 on a hot, sunny Tuesday morning.
DOVER - Two aerobatic planes had just finished a simulated dogfight photographed by KFOR-TV camera crews for a feature story on the planes' upcoming appearance at Oklahoma City's Aerospace America air show.
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