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Federal investigators looking into cause of airplane crash
liberty
Liberty school district officials remember John and Diana Lallo, killed Sunday in a plane crash near downtown Kansas City, Mo., as generous and community-minded — and always concerned for the best interests of students.
“They were always very giving people. They were always family-oriented, always together, always there for the community,” said Judd Rubin, principal of W.S. Guy Middle School. “The Liberty family is very sad about losing two wonderful members.”
The couple were involved with the district for many years — he serving as a board of education member until 2005, and she as a sixth-grade science teacher until 2007. Upon retiring, they began to travel extensively, often to visit their four children, Rubin said.
The Kansas City Star reported late Monday that the couple had flown to Missouri to visit daughter Melissa Lallo-Johnson, her husband and their son, and that Lallo-Johnson confirmed that her parents died in the crash.
Schools Superintendent Stan Watson called the accident a “tremendous tragedy,” and one that has shaken those who work or have worked in the school district.
“We feel terribly about it,” Watson said. “There are not too many words to describe how tragic this situation is.”
The National Transportation Safety Board was working Monday at a site near downtown Kansas City to learn more about the crash.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the pilot — believed to be Lallo — reported an unspecified engine problem shortly after takeoff and was cleared to return to the airport.
Lynn Lunsford, an FAA spokesman, said he couldn’t be sure but added that weather did not appear to be a factor. Data from the National Weather Service show partly cloudy conditions and good visibility in Missouri on Sunday.
The medical examiner’s office in Jackson County, Mo., confirmed early Monday that it was working to positively identify the bodies. Those close to the investigation and others with knowledge of the aircraft involved, though, say John and Diana Lallo are likely the victims.
Dan Dickten, director of aviation at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, where the plane was registered under John Lallo’s name and where the flight first took off from Thursday, said it was apparent the couple was aboard the single-engine Mooney M-20J.
The aircraft was registered to Air McRoyal of Youngstown, according to the FAA. Records at the Youngstown-Warren airport show Lallo began renting hangar space there in 2006, when he was listed under an unidentified party’s aircraft. In 2009, he began renting hangar space for the M-20 that he owned.
Dickten said he believed Lallo was an avid flyer.
John Lallo was president of McRoyal Industries, which provides building services for fast-food restaurants, banks and major retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch. Based in Youngstown, the company was founded in 1956.
The plane had taken off from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport at 3:31 p.m. Thursday, stopping at the Purdue University Airport before landing at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport in Kansas City at 8:48 p.m., according to online flight records.
Authorities said the plane was leaving the airport about 2:45 p.m. Sunday when it crashed on the south side of the levee about a quarter-mile from the runway.
Lunsford said the NTSB is now in charge of the investigation because fatalities are involved.
An official who answered the phone at McRoyal Industries on Monday said that “out of respect for the family, no further information is available at this time.”
A person who answered the phone at the Lallo residence in Girard also would not comment.
Dan Ferguson, a spokesman for Jackson County, said it was unclear when the medical examiner’s office would positively identify the bodies, while Eric Weiss, a spokesman for the NTSB, said he wasn’t sure when any details on how the crash occurred would be available.
Dickten said the airport does not provide maintenance services to plane owners, saying Lallo would have had his own mechanic for the M-20. He said all of that information, including whether a mechanical problem even factored into the crash, would eventually come out during the course of the NTSB’s investigation.
Vindicator reporter Emmalee C. Torisk contributed to this story.