Oklahoma plane crash kills two
Sources: Norman Transcript and NewsOK.com
Sunday, December 3, 2006
NORMAN — Two people died after their amateur-built plane crashed Saturday morning in a vacant lot near Interstate 35 in Norman, narrowly missing the interstate and several businesses that border the lot.
Robert C. Noble Jr., 50, of Choctaw died at Norman Regional Hospital about an hour after the 8:45 a.m. crash. Noble was the pilot of the plane, and his name is listed on the aircraft's registration with the Federal Aviation Administration.
The second victim has been identified as Norman resident Paul Dwight Black.
The plane involved in the crash Saturday was an RV-7, a single-engine two-seat airplane. The RV-7 is sold by the aviation company Van's Aircraft (http://www.vansaircraft.com) as a kit that people build themselves.
Black and Noble left Twin Lakes Airport in Midwest City early Saturday morning in Noble's RV-7 headed for Max Westheimer Airport in Norman. The plane crashed 100 yards West of I-35 at about 8:41 a.m. Saturday. Both men died of "traumatic cardiac arrest," at Norman Regional Hospital shortly after the crash, Norman deputy fire Chief Jim Bailey told The Transcript Saturday.
Witnesses to the crash said the plane seemed to have engine problems, and Noble appeared to have made an effort to land the plane away from buildings or people.
"He knew what he was doing," Shandana Majors said, a sales director for Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge who saw the crash. "I think it was pretty brave and pretty smart of him. He decided to take it down there. It definitely makes you feel bad for them."
Two similar small planes landed safely at Max Westheimer before the crash, Federal Aviation Association Spokesman Roland Herwig told The Transcript Saturday.
That airport is about one mile northeast of the crash site. The plane took off from a small airport in Midwest City, Herwig said. It was not known Saturday what caused the crash.
Herwig said federal officials are investigating and should compile a report on the crash by this morning.
Skies were mostly clear Saturday morning.
Witnesses said the pilot appeared to direct the plane into a vacant lot near Main Street to avoid hitting the interstate or adjacent businesses.
"Remarkably, he turned the plane and came across the highway and, without hurting anybody, landed in the empty field," said Derek Sills, who saw the crash from a nearby car dealership.
He said the crashed plane's engine was "cutting in and out" during its descent.
Sills said the plane's occupants were unconscious when he reached the crash site.
"Both were slumped over," he said. "You could see they were out. They looked pretty bad."
Herwig said the crashed plane was the last in a group of three similar planes flying into the Norman airport.
Sills said two of the planes nearly collided on their way in.
The plane that crashed was a single-engine RV-7 plane, which is a popular homemade model that carries an "experimental" designation from the FAA. The plane often comes as a build-your-own kit.
Such planes must pass three levels of FAA inspection before they are legal to fly, and their pilots must be licensed, Herwig said.
FAA records show Noble's certification on the plane was up-to-date and that his plane was manufactured in 2006.
Noble held a private pilot's license and a license to build experimental planes, according to the records.
Black, 50, enjoyed flying and had several pilot friends who would take him up flying in their small planes, the victim's son, Aaron Black said.
"That was his hobby," Aaron Black said Sunday. "He wanted to get his private pilot's license himself, but never finished the program. He had a circle of friends who would take them up in their planes."
Black went flying "a couple of times a month," and enjoyed flying with his younger son Michael Black, of Wichita, Kan., who also is a licensed pilot, Aaron Black said.
Black, an electrical engineer loved to build things and work with his hands and would often help his friends with their home-built planes, Aaron Black said.
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