Payne Stewart Jet Crash: October 25, 1999

The Gestation of a News Story

At approximately 10:00 a.m. EDT the morning of October 25, 1999, air traffic controllers in Gainesville, Fla. lost contact with a civilian jet which had taken off from Orlando at 9:20, headed toward Dallas, Texas. Attempts to contact the flight crew were futile, as the plane appeared to have lost cabin pressure, killing the passengers and leaving the plane flying out of control on automatic pilot. The plane finally crashed at around 1:20 p.m. EDT near Mina, South Dakota. Only later was it discovered that among the passengers killed in the crash was golf star Payne Stewart.

Through the links below, you can see how the story developed over time as covered by CNN Interactive, and how the focus of the story shifted when it was discovered that someone famous was on the plane. Also note that the existence of a sixth passenger was not reported until more than nine hours after the crash occurred.

Click on listing for each story to view the story.  Use the "back" button on your browser to return to this page when you're done reading each story.

1:23 p.m. EDT: Learjet believed out of control over Midwest
1:38 p.m. EDT: Learjet crashes in South Dakota
2:07 p.m. EDT: Runaway Learjet crashes in South Dakota; All 5 dead
2:36 p.m. EDT: Golf champion Payne Stewart, 4 others die in South Dakota jet crash
3:36 p.m. EDT: Golfer Payne Stewart, 4 others dead in runaway jet crash
5:08 p.m. EDT: FAA officials en route to scene of Payne Stewart crash
8:08 p.m. EDT: Investigators arrive at Payne Stewart crash site
10:53 p.m. EDT: Sixth victim reported in Stewart Learjet crash