Oklahoma State University Women’s Basketball Plane Crash
As most of you probably know by know, the college sports world was rocked once again by the announcing of the deaths of Oklahoma State University women’s basketball head coach, Kurt Budke, and assistant coach, Miranda Serna, from a plane crash that occurred around 4 pm Thursday afternoon.
And as it’s been posted by the news media and sports history buffs, this is the second time in ten years that Oklahoma State has lost part of its basketball program in a plane crash. In January of 2001, ten people affiliated with players and coaches of the OK State men’s basketball team died after their plane crashed in Colorado following a basketball game.
Budke and Serna were en-route to Little Rock, Arkansas, on a recruiting trip when their single-engine plane went down and crashed in mountainous, heavily-wooded terrain. It’s also been reported that the pilot of the aircraft was eighty-two years old.
Personally, I have no idea who Budke and Serna were. I don’t follow men’s or women’s basketball programs, college or professional. However, from what I’ve seen so far, it sounds like both people were well-liked and respected in their field, and this is a tough loss and serious blow to not only Oklahoma State faculty and students, but fans of the sport in general.
For the crash, I haven’t seen any details yet about the make or model of the aircraft, or any other conditions of the flight. It was reported that the aircraft was built back in 1964. For anybody who’s flown general aviation, you know as well as I do that this is a moot point. Most Cessna trainers were built in the early 1970s, and many aircraft from the 1960s are still very much flyable as long as the aircraft’s owner(s) keep up with the required maintenance.
It was also reported that the pilot himself was eighty-two years old. The pilot’s age may have very well been a factor. Hunters in the area reported that they heard the aircraft’s engine sputter before it took a nosedive and crashed into the hilly terrain. So far I haven’t heard any reports of pieces of the airplane falling away from the aircraft. Was the engine sputtering and presumed engine failure caused by a mechanical issue, or was it related to pilot error?
At this point in time, not enough is known about the crash. The NTSB has to comb through the evidence and interview the witnesses before they release their report.
An engine sputtering can mean anything from fuel starvation to an air intake disruption to even an internal problem with the engine, causing it to run rough and ultimately seize. Seeing how the aircraft was nearing its destination, right now it’s conceivable that the plane simply ran out of fuel and the engine quit running. Unless the aircraft hit something and/or had its fuel line punctured, running out of fuel is almost always blamed on the pilot for improper flight planning.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Fuel starvation is one of many options that could cause the engine to sputter and ultimately bring down the aircraft.
In this case, it’s important to know more about the pilot.
How much experience did he have in this type of aircraft? How many flight certificates did he hold? What was his class of medical certificate?
If the pilot was not being compensated for the flight (a.k.a. paying for the flight himself or sharing part of the operating expenses, but not earning a profit for doing so), then it’s conceivable that he only held a basic private pilot’s certificate and a third-class medical certificate. In other words, the bare minimum for operating an aircraft and carrying passengers in non-instrument flight conditions. While there’s nothing wrong with having just a basic certificate (I earned one of those myself), the name of the game here comes down to aircraft knowledge and number of pilot-in-command flight hours.
I’m sure we’ll know all about the pilot’s flight history when the NTSB releases a preliminary report in a few days. Hopefully at that point we’ll have a better idea whether this accident was a mechanical issue or possibly related to pilot error.
As it was mentioned in my article about the September 2011 crash at the Reno Air Race, older pilots are still very much capable of safely piloting aircraft. However, when a pilot reaches certain ages where his skills may be deemed questionable by FAA medical inspectors and/or his passengers, then it’s a good idea for said pilot to bring along a co-pilot. After all, the priority of the pilot is to safely transport the aircraft and passengers to the destination, even if it means bringing along another person to monitor the instruments.
Either way, this was a tragic accident and a major blow to Oklahoma State University.
Senator Olin and Paula “Dusty” Branstetter were both world class pilots flying actively for the last 40 years logging countless hours. Olin was a a published author pertaining to his flight experience and held multiple certifications. They were extremely efficient and thorough people who took their plane and flying seriously. When flying with the Branstetters–Olin and Dusty were always in the front as Pilot and Co-Pilot in the event of an emergency. The plane they were flying at the time of the accident was a 1964 Piper Cherokee 180. It was the same plane that Olin, Dusty, and their son Jack flew over the magnetic north pole in during a mission trip for distributing Gideon Bibles in 1984. Dusty set the world record that still stands today for the first woman ever to fly over the magnetic north pole in a single engine aircraft. The Branstetters regularly flew cancer patients to destinations for medical treatment on their own dime. As proud OSU alums–they actively helped OSU anyway they could from flying people to where ever they needed to go, to creating a scholarship for women student pilots in Dusty’s name. As Olin was 82 and Dusty 79–there have been questions raised as to whether age could have been a factor. As all pilots are required to pass physicals and certification flights every few years–they obviously had passed. Besides this, if you knew them personally like those of us in their community did, they were those lucky people whose age never slowed them down or deterred them from living life to the fullest. In fact, when I was around them it wasn’t something I would even think about. Olin and Dusty were always there for anyone that needed them. This couple was special–uniquely special for our times. Their passing leaves all of us that knew them empty and greatly saddened, but also extremely proud of the great accomplishments they made together, always in God’s name.