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:

An airplane crash in central Arkansas killed four people, including two Oklahoma State University women's basketball coaches and former state Senator Olin Branstetter, who was piloting the plane.
NTSB investigators have ruled out weather as a factor, with attention focusing on a possible loss of control or the pilot's medical history after witnesses reported a sputtering sound and a nose-dive.
The incident has led Oklahoma State University to review its travel policy, recalling a previous fatal plane 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.