Five killed in Missouri crash of private airplane

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The owner of an insulation company, three of his children and the owner of an environmental consulting company were killed early on Saturday when a small airplane crashed in a southwestern Missouri field, authorities said.

John Lambert, 44, president and owner of Missouri Insulation & Supply Inc., his children Joshua Lambert, 10, McKinley Lambert, 15, and Grayson Lambert, 16, all died in the crash, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

Robin Melton, 46, president and owner of Environmental Works Inc, also was killed in the crash, authorities said.

Lambert was piloting the single-engine airplane, which took off from a suburban Kansas City airport on Friday night headed southeast to Springfield, Missouri, the highway patrol said.

The airplane crashed just north of Willard, Missouri, in a field surrounded by woods, authorities said. Willard is about a dozen miles northwest of Springfield, but only a few miles from the Springfield-Branson airport.

Light rain was falling at the time of the crash, but it was not known if weather was a factor, said Bob Larimer, a patrol communications officer.

Krista Guy said she was awakened by the sound of the airplane, which crashed about a quarter mile from her home.

"It was the sound of a plane diving and the our whole house shook and the windows rattled," Guy said.

Guy said her husband, David, and a nephew went to the scene and found the plane on fire. "I felt helpless," she said.

(Editing by David Bailey and Peter Cooney)