Probe Of Fatal Midair Collision Begins

Investigators were expected Friday to begin the process of finding out what caused a disaster in the skies over Renton Thursday evening when two planes collided and two people died, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

The two single-engine planes collided in midair in clear skies over a busy freeway. One crashed into an empty elementary school and two people aboard died.

Slideshow: Planes Collide; One Crashes Video: Float Plane Pilot's Harrowing Tale

"It went straight down," one witness told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. "It lost power and stalled and went twirling straight down."

Late Friday afternoon, the King County Medical Examiners Office identified the two men killed in the crash. They were identified as Chun Kit Ho, 25, Seattle, and Kevin Germario Dukes, 26, also of Seattle. Both men were engineers at Boeing and were also members of the Subsonics Flying Club, based in Renton.

The second aircraft, a float plane, made an emergency landing beside a runway at nearby Renton Municipal Airport. All five people aboard scooted to safety after the deHavilland Beaver DHC-2 skipped across the grass for about 150 yards, bounced two or three times and skidded to a halt.

The Cessna 152 smashed through the roof of Kennydale Elementary School, a two-story building that was closed for remodeling after the end of the school year in June. Construction workers had left the building for the day about half an hour earlier, officials said.

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the collision, which occurred on a hot, clear day over Interstate 405 at the height of the afternoon commute. Tom Little, an NTSB investigator, said the Cessna had been heading directly into the sun.

"People might think it would be unusual for a midair collision to happen on a bright, sunny day," said KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Aviation Reporter Rick Price. "But it's one of the most common times for collisions to happen because the sun is bright in the afternoon (and) it's at a relatively low angle."

Karen Byrd, a Federal Aviation Administration duty officer, said the planes collided about 5:45 p.m. while approaching the airport about 25 minutes south of downtown Seattle.

"Both aircraft were coming in from the north ... and were pretty much side by side," Byrd said.

Other than Boeing 737s assembled at a neighboring factory, the airport at the south end of Lake Washington is used mostly by small aircraft.

Airport operations specialist Bruce Fisher said both planes were under the direction of the airport's air traffic controllers.

Lt. Greg Strome of the Boeing Fire Department said the Cessna's windshield hit the float plane's right pontoon.