CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A US Airways commuter plane corkscrewed into the earth outside a hangar at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport on Wednesday, exploding in a fireball that killed all 21 aboard.
The plane, Flight 5481 bound for Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., was full with 19 passengers and two pilots aboard when it crashed at 8:49 a.m. EDT, missing by less than 50 yards a US Airways maintenance base with hundreds of workers.
About 400 workers scrambled to safety from the cavernous hangar, avoiding a torrent of burning aviation fuel that surged from a storm drain like lava.
The cause of the crash was unknown, but authorities said there was a truncated conversation between the tower and the pilot after takeoff. Witnesses said the aircraft seemed to struggle from the start.
The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were recovered and will be examined Thursday.

— Mark Washburn, Ken Garfield and Elizabeth Leland, Knight

Ridder Newspapers (KRT)