On the 25th of October, 1999, golfing icon and reigning US Open champion, Payne Stewart,
boarded a private jet en route to his next big tournament in Texas.
He would never reach his destination.
Just a few minutes after takeoff all communication from the plane on which he flew ceased, and
the aircraft stopped manoeuvring, instead adopting a straight, unwavering course that
it would follow until, hours later, it finally ran out of fuel.
By the late 1990’s Payne Stewart had become well known in the golfing community for his
skill, eye-catching attire, and charisma.
Having won his first US Open in 1991, Stewart went on to win his second in June of 1999.
A few months later he went on to help his team win the Ryder Cup for the United States
of America.
Following these considerable successes, Stewart was due to compete at the Tour Championship
in October of 1999, an event for the best golfers on the PGA Tour’s roster.
Ahead of the Championship, Stewart made plans to fly from Orlando to Houston, with a stop
off along the way in Dallas.
This stop off would allow Stewart, as well as his friend and colleague, Bruce Borland
– a golf course designer – to fly together and discuss a course design project taking
place at Stewart's alma mater.
Stewart's agents, Van Ardan and Robert Fraley also joined the two for the trip.
On the 25th of October, the group boarded a Learjet 35 in Orlando for the first leg
of their flight.
This private jet was manned by Michael Kling, a 42-year-old pilot who had flown both privately
and in the Air Force, and co-pilot Stephanie Bellegarrigue who – although just 27 years
old – had a significant number of flight hours to her name.
The flight took off uneventfully at 9:19am, and was scheduled to head north over Florida
before turning west for Dallas.
However, just 14 minutes after departing from Orlando air traffic controllers lost contact
with the jet and the aircraft began veering slowly off course.
Concerned by the lack of response from the crew, traffic control cleared a corridor of
airspace around the jet and called on a nearby F-16 Air Force test pilot to approach and
visually inspect the Learjet.
This pilot was able to confirm that both engines were operating and that the aircraft itself
looked fine, but noted that the windows were covered by either condensation or frost, with
only a small patch in one window appearing to be clear.
The state of the windows gave controllers their first insight into what might have happened
on board the jet – they were likely to be dealing with a loss of cabin pressure; something
which would result in a massive drop in oxygen levels on board the plane.
Any passenger or crew member who had not managed to don an oxygen mask within just a few seconds
of the loss of cabin pressure was very likely to be unconscious.
If all of those on board had fallen unconscious, the Learjet 35 was now effectively a ghost
plane.
News organisations quickly began reporting on the rouge jet, with early reports only
able to confirm that a professional golfer was on board.
With many pros scheduled to leave Orlando for Texas that day family members and friends
began calling players, seeking to establish who was on board.
Before long it was confirmed that the Learjet was Payne Stewart’s.
As well as speculation about who was on board, there was also a great deal of uncertainty
about where the plane would come down if (or when) it ran out of fuel.
Four F-16s, two from the Oklahoma Air National Guard and two from the North Dakota Air National
Guard were deployed to fly alongside the jet.
The aircraft appeared to be on autopilot.
Though it was able to maintain a straight course, there was no way to make it perform
any other manoeuvre.
The four F-16s surrounding the Learjet, could do nothing but follow it on its journey and
provide regular status reports.
The possibility that the plane might be shot down if it veered towards a heavily populated
area was discussed in the media, but authorisation was not given for any of the escort planes
to shoot down the Learjet... at least, not within America.
The Canadian Prime Minister, however, authorised Canadian military aircraft to target the Learjet
if it should continue on its course and enter Canadian airspace.
The plane, however, never reached Canada.
In total, the Learjet flew unmanned for around four hours, heading northwest for 2,400 kilometres
(or 1,500 miles) until it was over South Dakota.
With every minute that passed its fuel reserves were depleting.
At around 12:10pm local time, these fuel reserves finally ran out.
The Learjet’s engines powered down, and the autopilot disengaged.
The plane’s flight path became suddenly erratic as, unpowered, it began to descend
towards the ground.
One of the F-16 pilots following the jet reported, "It's soon to impact the ground; he is in
a descending spiral.”
Another added, “Looks like he's out of control... in a severe descent, request an emergency
descent to follow target."
This F-16 pilot did indeed make an attempt to follow the Learjet in its rapid descent,
but lost sight of the aircraft as it dropped towards the ground.
The unpowered plane gathered momentum, until it was falling at an incredible speed.
At 12:13pm local time it crashed into a field near the town of Mina in South Dakota.
The plane disintegrated on impact, with many pieces of wreckage burying themselves deep
into the ground.
As the entire fuel load on board had been used up before the crash, there was no fire
or explosion.
To universal relief, the Learjet did not hit any people on the ground – nor did it destroy
any buildings.
The field where it crashed was, in fact, 0.8 kilometres (or 0.5 miles) from any inhabited
building.
A crash in a populated area could have caused significant devastation…
but the only casualties in this disaster were those on board the jet itself.
All six people on board the plane lost their lives in the accident.
As well as pro-golfer Payne Stewart, also on board were his agents Van Ardan and Robert
Fraley, and his friend and colleague Bruce Borland.
In the cockpit were pilot and co-pilot Michael Kling and Stephanie Bellegarrigue.
It is likely that everyone on board lost consciousness rapidly and painlessly early into the flight,
and died as a result of hypoxia long before the crash.
Federal investigators were able to recover the cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage,
but it covered only the final half hour of the flight.
The recording included sounds of a low-pressure alarm, consistent with the jet losing cabin
pressure.
A year-long investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that
whilst a loss of pressure had taken place, the exact cause of the failure could not be
identified.
The damage to the jet caused by the impact was just too comprehensive… and, furthermore,
the private jet had not had a flight data recorder on board.
The loss of pressure might have been caused by a sudden rupture in the fuselage, or by
a gradual leak in one part of the plane.
In any event, those on board would have had precious little time to act.
Hypoxia causes confusion and impairs motor skills – meaning that the pilots and passengers
would have had only seconds to determine what was wrong and secure their oxygen masks before
they either lost consciousness, or became too confused to do so.
The crash and Payne Stewart’s death had a profound impact on the golfing community.
The Tour Championships, the tournament that Stewart has been scheduled to play that week,
began with a lone bagpipe player playing at the first hole in tribute to Stewart.
Later that week the players interrupted the competition to attend Stewart's memorial service
in Orlando.
When they returned to play the final round, the competitors dressed in Stewart’s trademark
brightly-coloured knickerbocker trousers in tribute to the much-loved player.
The six victims were also memorialised at the crash site in South Dakota.
With consent from the victim's families, the landowner Jon Hoffman – an avid golf fan
– built a one-acre memorial around the site.
A rock retrieved from the crash was inscribed with the victim's names alongside a biblical
verse.
This now sits in the centre of the memorial.
A letter sent by the families of the victims to Jon Hoffman read, “It is unfortunate
that we have been connected through tragedy.
But we also realize that we could not have been connected to a better person.
Your generosity of not only your land, and time, but also your concern, is a blessing
to us.
We are forever grateful.”
Hoffman’s memorial has since become a place for friends, families, players and fans from
all over the world to come together and remember those whose lives were cut short by the crash
in such a sudden and unexpected way.