King Air Crashes: Orange, VA
Anonymous
11/17/96 7:07 PM
Investigation Continues in Skydiving Plane Crash
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ORANGE, Va. (AP) -- A mechanical failure may have caused
the crash of a small airplane carrying 10 skydivers and
a pilot, authorities said Sunday.
However, it may take several months before the National
Transportation Safety Board pinpoints what caused the
plane to crash about 3 p.m. Saturday at Orange County
Field, said state police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell.
The NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration sent
investigators to determine the cause of the crash.
Caleb Glick, the airport operator, watched as the
twin-engine plane ran out of room, bounced off the end
of the runway and cartwheeled into a pasture about 2,000
feet beyond the end of the runway.
''It looked normal,'' he said. ''Then it went off the
end and cartwheeled.''
The plane hurled through three fences and burst into
flames.
''There was a huge fireball,'' said Mervin Glick, 27,
whose father operates the field. ''It looked just like
when they blow it up on television, but this was for
real.''
Ric Dennis, safety officer for Skydive Orange, the club
that had leased the plane, said he and other club
members watched in horror as the plane crashed.
''This is your worst nightmare; you never think anything
like this is going to happen,'' he said.
Several skydivers had already climbed out of the
smoldering wreckage when Glick and other bystanders
pulled up, but a few injured passengers were still
strapped into the cabin.
''I was hollering for extra help,'' said Glick, who has
worked as a volunteer firefighter. ''We needed a pocket
knife to cut the seatbelt from one of the seriously
injured ones. You couldn't see two feet into the cabin.
It was seriously on fire.''
Some of the passengers trapped inside were calling for
help, but Glick said there no one panicked.
About 30 seconds after the last victim was pulled from
the wreck, the cabin burst into flames.
Five of the passengers were taken to Culpeper Memorial
Hospital, where three were treated and released. Two
were in stable condition Sunday.
Ms. Caldwell identified the five as pilot Kyle Bankus,
26, of Vienna; John Elmore, 26, of Richmond; Hyon Kim,
23, of Arlington; Sam Leinbach, 27, of Hanover, Md.; and
Darin Hoenle, 23, of Arlington. She did not know which
of the victims had been released and which remained
hospitalized.
The remaining six victims were taken to University of
Virginia Hospital. Ned Wulin of Fishersville and Robert
Page of Sterling were in critical condition on Sunday, a
hospital administrator said. James Graves of Richmond,
Karen Falzini of Takoma Park, Md., and Timothy Watson
were in good condition. Donnie Littlepage of Alexandria
was discharged Sunday.
Dennis said all the skydivers aboard the plane were
experienced jumpers.
The 3,200-foot air strip is about 30 miles west of
Fredericksburg.
AP-DS-11-17-96 1902EST
Copyright 1996, Associated Press. All rights reserved.