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A family is searching for answers after a plane crash Saturday took the lives of a mother, father and son in Kaufman County.
Katie Newman, of Fort Worth, said she was supposed to be on the plane that killed her family, but said she went college scouting instead. Katie's parents, John and Cyndy Newman, and her 19-year-old brother, John Newman II, were all killed after the small single-engine plane they were traveling in nose-dived in a rural field shortly after takeoff.
"They were absolutely the greatest parents in the entire world," she said of John and Cyndy Newman.
Witnesses said the plane only made it a few hundred feet in the air after taking off from a friend's grassy airstrip nearby.
"He lost air speed [and] went down," said Arthur Akridge, a witness.
As investigators probe the crash site, Katie Newman said she is still searching for answers.
"It must have been something totally and completely out of control, entirely, because we've flown into places with very bad weather," said Katie Newman, who lost her entire family in the crash.
The Newmans were aviation enthusiasts and had flown all over the country in their Piper plane.
"I'm just so surprised," said Jeanenne Brown, Katie's grandmother. "I would have never thought that John would have had a problem. I'm just wondering if something went wrong with the plane."
John Newman, 50, was an engineer and president of a local flight club. Cyndy Newman, 48, was a kindergarten teacher at Saint Andrew Catholic School in Fort Worth. John Newman II was in his second year at the University of Texas at Arlington.
"They were just a wonderful family, and [we're] not sure we're going to make it without them," Brown said breaking into tears.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash and said it could take up to six to nine months.
