Four Albertans dead in plane crash

By None on February 24, 2018.

Lethbridge Herald

A missing plane with four men from southern Alberta on board has been found in the southern United States with no survivors.

The U.S. Air Force began a search for the plane that was overdue for its destination of Albuquerque, N.M.

According to Jon Kaupp, the four missing men included his father, Bill Kaupp and brother, Clint Kaupp, from New Dayton. Two other men have been identified in the media as Tim Mueller and Ron Mckenzie from Warner.

A release from Kaupp Family Farms confirmed the worst on Friday night.

“It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that the plane has been located with no survivors. I want to tell everyone how much I appreciate and the sharing, good wishes and all of the condolences given over today.

“There’s still a lot of good in this very scary world. In the future I will talk about how great the four people that we lost were to everyone that knew them, but for now we are going to grieve.”

According to Jon, the plane left Cut Bank, Mont., on Wednesday, expecting to arrive in Albuquerque that night, but was grounded in Grand Junction, Colo., due to poor weather conditions.

The four stayed the night in Grand Junction and then took off to finish their trip around 10 a.m. on Thursday.

“My brother messaged me letting me know that they were taking off,” Jon said earlier in a Facebook message.

On Friday afternoon, search and rescue officials detected a signal from an emergency transmitter in an area near the Colorado-Utah state line.

Jamie Metzger, the daughter of Bill Kaupp, one of the men on board, said family and friends were contacted by RCMP and sheriffs in the U.S.

“We are heartbroken,” she said. “We have lost four amazing men.”

Metzger said they were waiting to hear more details.

— with files from The Canadian Press

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