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Plane CrashesVersion 2

One dead in Aero Commander 500-B crash near Chesterfield, Missouri

The official accident record lists one person on board, one fatality and the aircraft destroyed; the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and the cause has not been determined.

By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 7, 2026, 9:35 a.m. ET
One person was killed when an crashed near Chesterfield, Missouri, at about 5:24 a.m. local time on March 17, 2026, according to the official accident record. The event is developing and the details below reflect the record as it currently stands. The accident record lists one person on board and one fatality, and states that the aircraft was destroyed. It identifies the aircraft as registration , the operator as , and classifies the flight as a Part 135 commuter or on-demand operation. The National Transportation Safety Board is listed as the investigating body. The cause has not been determined. Aircraft registry records list as an , a twin-engine piston landplane with Lycoming TIO-540 series engines, serial number 1458-162, built in 1964 and 62 years old at the time of the crash. The registry lists the operator of record as Central Airlines and the registered owner as ; the owner of record is not necessarily the operator of the flight, the pilot, or otherwise connected to it. Registry entries can be out of date. Geographic reference data places Chesterfield in Saint Louis County, Missouri, at a settlement terrain elevation of 561 ft — not the elevation of the accident site — 4.5 miles east of Spirit of St Louis Airport (KSUS), 5.7 miles southwest of Creve Coeur Airport (K1H0) and 12 miles west-southwest of St. Louis Lambert International Airport. A weather observation recorded at KSUS, 4.5 miles away and about 30 minutes from the reported time of the accident, showed wind from 310 degrees at 11 knots, visibility 10 statute miles, clear skies and a temperature of 18°F. That is an instrument reading and not a statement about what happened. The NTSB database, which begins in 2008, contains 5 other cases involving the , of which 1 involved a fatality. That count is a matter of record and says nothing about the cause of this accident. The investigation remains open.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
N444CA
Type
Aero Commander 500-B — twin-engine piston landplane
Engines
LYCOMING TI0-540 SER
Built
1964-01-01 (62 years old)
Operator of record
Central Airlines
Registered owner
Central Airlines IncThe owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight.
Terrain elevation
561 ft
Nearest aerodrome
4.5 miles E of Spirit of St Louis Airport (KSUS/SUS)

Sources

No sources recorded.

Revision history

  1. Version 27 Aug 2026, 13:35current

    Corrected the bearing to Creve Coeur Airport (southwest, per reference data) and clarified that the 561 ft elevation is that of the settlement, not the accident site.

  2. Version 15 Aug 2026, 16:26

    First published.

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