MILWAUKEE - Federal officials want to know how two cargo planes collided and caught on fire at Mitchell International Airport Wednesday night.

The company that owns the planes says the pilots aren't at fault. The company says air traffic controllers are.

Both of the small cargo planes had just landed and were taxiing to a cargo ramp when the crash happened.

Freight Runners Express owns both planes. One is a Cessna 402; the other is a Beachcraft 99.

Pilot James Kremsreiter had just arrived from Baraboo in the Cessna.

Charley Stephenson landed the Beachcraft on a flight from Stevens Point.

In a written statement, the company said air traffic controllers in the tower told one of the planes to exit a high speed taxiway.

The other plane got clearance from air traffic control to move to the same taxiway.

The planes crashed where the three taxiways intersect.

The company said the crash could have been avoided if air traffic controllers had told the pilots about each other.

A propeller from the Beachcraft ruptured the wingtip fuel tank on the Cessna. That caused a fire.

Stephenson burned his hands and face. Kremsreiter wasn't injured.

Both pilots have decades of experience. No one else was on board or hurt.

The accident happened near the Air Cargo Terminal at the southeast side of the airport. Smoke and flames were visible as firefighters quickly extinguished the fire.

The airport was shut down for about 30 minutes.

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking at tapes from the air traffic control towers and tapes of the planes on the taxiways to see who may be at fault. "They not only have tapes of the communications but also of the movement of the airplanes, so they'll be able to tell how fast they were going and what happened," said Airport Director Barry Bateman.

Airport officials say they've never had any problems with Freight Runners Express.

The FAA says their investigation could take up to a year. The National Transportation Safety Board will then rule on the FAA's investigation.

It's the second accident at the airport this week. On Sunday, a Northwest Airlines jet had to abort a take-off and slid off the runway. One person suffered minor injuries.


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Read Freight Runner's reaction to the collision, with more details on the accident and the pilots.

Freight Runners Express