West Virginia plane crash kills Michigan furniture executive
December 08, 2006
By Dave Gustafson
Staff writer , Charleston Gazette
A Michigan furniture company executive was killed Thursday afternoon when his single-engine plane crashed about five miles west of the Summersville Airport, in West Va., according to federal officials and an acquaintance.
The victim was identified as Christian George Wilhelm Grahl of Coldwater, Mich., by Monico Lopez, a mechanic at Branch County Memorial Airport who saw Grahl before his flight. Grahl was a retired ergonomic furniture maker from Michigan who raised horses. His family-founded company Grahl Industries is based in Europe, with U.S. operations in Coldwater.
About 11:30 a.m., the 1995 model Mooney M-20, which is registered to Hanseatic Air of Michigan Inc., took off from the Branch County airport, according to flightaware.com, a Web site that provides unofficial live tracking data on flights.
The pilot, who filed a flight plan to Raleigh, N.C., reported having engine problems to air traffic controllers in Indianapolis, said Jim Peters, an FAA spokesman in New York.
The plane was in reportedly in distress because it was taking on ice, said Joey DeRito, Nicholas County’s director of emergency services. Around the time of the crash, a squall dumped more than an inch of snow in the area, he said.
It appeared the pilot was attempting an emergency landing a few minutes before 1 p.m. in a field near Poe, West Va., about five miles west of the Summersville Airport, he said. Marks in the field indicate the plane touched down, bounced up, then touched down again before crashing through a fence and into some trees about 240 feet after its initial touchdown, DeRito said.
The plane burst into flames, which spread because of the fuel onboard, he said. The trees had burn marks 50 feet high.
A witness told first responders he heard the plane coming in without its engine on. He heard it touch down twice, then saw smoke rising from the crash site, DeRito said.
The pilot’s body was taken to the state Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.
Local fire departments, the Nicholas County Sheriff’s Department and West Virginia State Police responded to the scene.
top