Published: October 15, 2007 03:25 pm         

In For A Long Wait

Final report on fatal plane crash six to 12 months away

WILEY FORD, W.Va. - It will be six to 12 months before the National Transportation Safety Board issues a final report dealing with the crash of a twin-engine plane near Scenic Lane on Sunday that took the lives of four people, senior air safety investigator Bob Gretz said Monday near the scene.

Earl Wilson Jr., the pilot, along with his wife, Sharon, of Fort Ashby, and Gary Athey and wife Carol of LaVale, perished when the six-seater Aero Commander, model 560, crashed into a barn that was being constructed on the Jerry Abe property. But the crash wasn't discovered until hours later, when someone checked on the source of the smoke and alerted Mineral County auth-orities.

The deceased were identified by Airport Manager Terry Malone, who said the plane took off about 10:30 a.m. and was headed to Atlantic City, N.J., on a recreational day trip.

A team of investigators from NTSB, the Federal Aviation Administration and a Lycoming engine manufacturer representative, will be on the scene until the bodies can be recovered - which was expected late Monday or early Tuesday.

Aero Commander went out of business, so no one from that firm is involved in the initial investigation.

Because the plane was destroyed by fire, Mineral County Medical Examiner Chris Guynn wanted to be extra cautious, so Gretz said a team of four other medical examiners were sent in from Washington, D.C. The medical examiners, who are "being very methodical," are expected to be working at the crash site through late Monday night, he added.

The wreckage will be recovered Tuesday by a salvage company from Delaware and taken to a hangar in that state to be studied further, Gretz said. "The wreckage is typically kept for one to three years.

"We will have some preliminary information on our Web site, probably by (Oct. 24)," Gretz said, referring to www.ntsb.gov. "We will continue to collect evidence for six months and then file a factual report. A final report will follow."

Though the plane burned for six hours, according to Gretz, the investigators were able to find intact the nose, wing tips and tail. They did not find an emergency locator transmitter, a piece of equipment found in most general aviation planes, which will transmit a distress signal that makes a lost aircraft easier for search and rescue teams to locate.

"We did not see it. More than half the airplane was destroyed in the fire. It's possible it was, too," Gretz said. "Unfortunately, there was a severe post-impact fire. Apparently it burned about six hours before anybody was able to notice it or call 911 ... that has destroyed a lot of evidence and makes our job harder," Gretz said.

Investigators were unaware of any distress calls, but Gretz said they are checking local witnesses who may have heard anything. A standard aviation investigation includes learning about the pilot, the plane, and the environment as it existed at the time of the crash. Standard NTSB procedures includes reviewing the pilot's previous flight experience and qualifications, the aircraft's maintenance records for the past few years, and any communication the pilot had with air traffic control.

Malone said Wilson had about 30,000 hours' flight experience under his belt, and was rated for both visual and instrument flight. Gretz said Malone told him the weather Sunday was "a very nice day ... a VFR day," but NTSB still has to verify that with radar and weather records.

When he took off from Runway 23, Wilson was on a southwesterly heading. The Aero Commander crashed four to five miles south of the airport, "so the location of the wreckage is consistent with a runway departure."

Wilson was going to file an IFR flight plan, but Malone told Gretz the pilot "decided not to activate it on the ground." In good weather, pilots often activate a flight plan once they are airborne, and Gretz said Malone told him Wilson spoke with Cleveland Center while still on the ground, saying he planned to do this. But Wilson "never called back in the air," Gretz said, adding that he's still waiting on audiotapes from FAA for more details about the flight plan and any conversations Wilson had.

Because he didn't activate the flight plan, however, aviation authorities would not have known to watch for Wilson's plane.

As for possible problems with the aircraft itself, it's still too early to know. "In my nine years here, this is the first fatal Aero Commander that I've done," Gretz said.

FAA officials have recovered the aircraft logbooks, which will be used to piece together what led up to the crash, as will Wilson's pilot logbooks.

The plane struck a metal barn that was not quite yet fully constructed.

A search of the plane's tail number on the FAA Web site indicates the plane is owned by Gold Diggers Inc., a heavy construction business in Philippi.

Until the recovery effort is completed, Mineral County Chief Deputy Paul Sabin said Civil Air Patrol crews from Gaithersburg and Mount Airy will be providing round-the-clock security. This will ensure vital evidence at the crash site is protected, he added.