Airplane breaks apart in-flight; crashes in Georgia on Army post
February 12, 2007
A private airplane from Florida broke apart in mid-air, scattering wreckage over 1.5 miles before it crashed in Fort Stewart, Georgia, this past weekend, killing the pilot and his three passengers.
The pilot and three passengers were on their way to Anderson, South Carolina, from Titusville, Florida to buy a recreational vehicle, according to local media reports.
The cause of the breakup remains unknown. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate and issue a preliminary report sometime later this week. However, the cause of the crash will not be known for months, sometimes even a year.
Federal and local officials were busy gathering pieces and parts of the aircraft and checking records related to the airplane for clues on what may have caused a mechanical or structural catastrophe.
Officials also were collecting radar data related to the weather on the night the plane crashed. Local weather reports said the weather was cold and rainy Friday night when the plane reportedly went down.
Investigators said the wreckage was scattered over one and a half miles. The way the wreckage was scattered was a sign of an in-flight breakup, NTSB investigators said.
Local media reports listed Richard P. Love III, age 32, of Melbourne, Florida, as the pilot of the single-engine aircraft.
According to the FAA Web site, the Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft was owned by Love's father's company, Blue Heron Aviation Sales LLC.
James Fallace, who was mentioned in media reports as an attorney for Blue Heron Aviation Sales, was quoted as saying, "The purpose of the trip was to purchase an RV, which I think two of the passengers were going to drive back to Florida."
Liberty County, Georgia, Coroner Reginald L. Pierce identified the passengers as Joshua Manso, age 28, of Melbourne, Florida; Michael Marasia, age 34, of Satellite Beach, Florida; and Trevor Quinn, age 30, also of Melbourne.
Air traffic controllers in northern Florida lost radar and radio contact with the plane Friday over southeast Georgia just after the pilot requested permission to descend from 13,000 feet to 11,000 feet. No distress call was made, officials said.
Fort Stewart is a large Army post that spans more than 430 square miles southwest of Savannah, Georgia. Officials at the fort were notified to look for the plane at about 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
On the ground responders said that it took more than five hours to find the wreckage amid dense woods in a training area about six miles from Fort Stewart's headquarters.
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