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Flight instructor explains possible problem with flying out of Burke Lakefront Airport

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The missing Cessna Citation 525 that flew out of Burke Lakefront Airport Thursday and immediately went into Lake Erie may have encountered a common problem, some experts say. 

Tim Lanigan, a flight instructor, said the difficulty on flying out of Burke airport is that pilots must make a turn to the north out over to Lake Erie. 

"Your eyes and what your body thinks is down don't always agree with what the instruments are telling you,” Lanigan said. "Once you make that turn, the light disappears."

John T. Fleming, CEO at Superior Beverage Group in Columbus, was flying the plane. The plane was also registered to Fleming, who is a Dublin resident. Aboard the flight with Fleming was his wife, Suzanne, his two teenage sons, a neighbor and a neighbor's daughter, as passengers.

Lanigan said there was likely not enough time to warn passengers onboard that something on the flight had gone terribly wrong.

Lanigan said the flight to Columbus would have taken roughly 30 minutes, but added the plane that crashed was in the air less than five minutes.