Boat manufacturing executive dies in Tennessee plane crash
Michael R. Burlingham, 51, and his mother Gertrude Rutter, 85, died of blunt force trauma when Burlingham's 1978 single-engine Rockwell Commander 114 crashed in a wooded area
December 29, 2006
A 51-year-old Port St. Lucie, Fla., man and his mother died Tuesday, December 26, when his single-engine plane crashed near Jasper, Tenn.
Michael R. Burlingham, 51, and his mother Gertrude Rutter, 85, died of blunt force trauma when Burlingham's 1978 single-engine Rockwell Commander 114 crashed in a wooded area, according to medical examiner Brenda Sowter.
Burlingham's wife Carol, 51, and 26-year-old Thomas Ebel of Michigan survived the crash. Both survivors were in critical condition at Chattanooga's Erlanger Hospital.
The plane had departed Ottawa Executive Airport in Zeeland, Mich., headed for Winchester, Tenn. But the plane crashed around 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
Winchester airport manager Josh Abramson said officials had expected the plane to land late that day, but the flight was diverted to Lovell Field in Chattanooga, Tenn., about 20 miles west of the crash scene.
An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday there is evidence that ice was on the wings of the 1978 Rockwell Commander 114.
Tim Sorensen, air safety investigator with the NTSB, said first responders and emergency personnel found ice coating the aircraft.
Before it went down, pilot Michael Burlingham had radioed an air traffic control center in Memphis, Tenn., Mr. Sorensen said.
“He did report he was accumulating some ice on the wings,” Mr. Sorensen said.
The investigator said it’s too early to say whether ice caused the crash. He said the NTSB would release a report on the probable cause in six to nine months.
A witness on the ground, Rodney Hood stepped out of his house late Tuesday morning, looked over the trees in his backyard and saw a propeller plane bearing down on him. He ran in horror as the plane plowed through the trees, hit the ground and flipped.
The engine was running at the time. Hood said it at first sounded like a car.
Hood called 911 and then went back to the wreckage where he said the survivors "asked me if they were still alive."
Michael Burlingham had been an executive with several large boat retailers and manufacturers. At the time of his death, he was vice president of sales for Fort Pierce-based Pursuit Boats Inc.
The Burlinghams moved in September from New Port Richey, Fla., to Aero Acres, an airport community in western St. Lucie County, Fla.
"They just moved in and they were a very nice addition, very good neighbors. Right away we just took to them," said Kathleen Robinson, who lived next to the Burlinghams. "We've lost a great neighbor and I pray for his wife."
"This wasn't a person who just learned how to fly," said Bob Fritsky, a friend and former co-worker of Burlingham. He said Burlingham was not "prone to take chances."
Burlingham owned three planes, including the 1978 Rockwell Commander 114 he flew Tuesday. Finding space for planes landed the family in Aero Acres after Burlingham took a job with Pursuit Boats.
"He bought my house because the other ones in the neighborhood didn't have hangars as big," Elfers said. "That hangar was only six months old. He liked that. And it had an automatic door opener, like a garage opener."
At one time the Burlinghams were residents of Western Michigan.
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