Oklahoma State Crash: NTSB Says Weather Not a Factor

Bethany Whitfield

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 09:53 PM ET

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Key Takeaways:

A plane crash killed four people, including two Oklahoma State University women’s basketball coaches, pilot Olin Branstetter, and his wife.
NTSB investigators have ruled out weather as a factor, focusing instead on potential causes like the pilot's medical history and loss of control, indicated by a nose-down crash pattern and witness reports of sputtering.
The incident has prompted OSU to revisit its travel policy, echoing a previous fatal crash involving its men's basketball program a decade prior.

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Weather was not a factor in the recent high-profile crash that killed two Oklahoma State University women’s basketball coaches last week, according to NTSB investigators.

Former Oklahoma state Senator Olin Branstetter was flying the Cherokee 180 carrying the coaches when it crashed nose-first into a wooded area in central Arkansas on Thursday. All four people on board were killed, including the 82-year-old pilot, his 79-year-old wife Paula, who was also a pilot, and OSU women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Sernawere.