MAY 19, 2015
SALTVILLE, VA. (AP)
Police say at least two people died when a small airplane
crashed into a mountain in southwest Virginia.
State Police Lt. Ed Murphy said Tuesday that there are
conflicting reports on whether there were two or three people on the plane.
Nobody survived.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the Beechcraft
BE-55 was flying about seven miles northeast of Tazewell County Airport in
Richlands when air traffic controllers lost contact with it Monday. Murphy said
it appears the pilot was trying to avoid an isolated storm when the plane
crashed.
It took rescuers 2½ hours to reach the heavily wooded crash
site on Flat Top Mountain by foot Tuesday.
The FAA said the aircraft was headed from Spruce Creek
Airport near Daytona Beach, Florida, to Ohio’s Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.
////////////-------------------//////////////
SMYTH CO., Va. -- An aircraft missing since Monday has been
located and there are no survivors, according to Virginia State Police.
The wreckage site is in a remote location of Smyth County, east of Saltville. The plane was found on Flat Top Mountain.
Ed Murphy, a lieutenant with Virginia State Police, said they have conflicting reports about the number of people onboard. They say either two or three people were on the aircraft.
According to the NTSB, the plane is a Beech BE55. Multiple sources have confirmed to WDBJ7's Shayne Dwyer the tail number of the plane as N5816S. The plane was flying from Daytona Beach, Florida, and was headed to Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport in Ohio.
The plane was spotted by a Virginia State Police helicopter around 12:35 p.m. Tuesday. Troopers arrived at the scene of the crash around 3:05 p.m.
The plane lost radio contact around 12:40 p.m. Monday. Based on information from the radar it appears the pilot was attempting to avoid weather pockets, according to state police. While making the maneuver, the plane crashed into the side of Flat Top Mountain. Murphy said search pilots were also having difficulty flying in the weather Monday.
WDBJ7 has learned more about a missing plane in the Smyth County area.
Multiple sources have confirmed to WDBJ7's Shayne Dwyer the tail number of the plane as N5816S. The plane is pictured above in a photo from 2010 at the Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport -- which is where the aircraft was headed according to the FAA -- at a Mansfield Airport Day event according to photographer Randy Broderick.
Multiple sources have confirmed the people at the controls are "extremely experienced pilots."
The aircraft filed an Instrument Flight Rules, otherwise known as IFR, flight from Spruce Creek airport in Port Orange, Fl. to Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport in northern central Ohio for Monday May 19.
N5816S is a 1965 Beechcraft Baron 55 twin engine plane that last changed registration in 2010 according to aviation data website Flightaware.com, and the FAA.
The aircraft is owned by LWF Holdings INC according to online records. LWF Holdings is a registered LLC in Dover Delaware according to Delaware state records.
Requests for comment at LWF Holdings Monday evening were not accepted.
The plane last made radar contact according Flightaware.com at 12:34:31 p.m. with Indianapolis Center. It reported a heading of 122 degrees, which is ESE, a groundspeed of 100 knots/115 mph, and a flight level altitude of 8,300 feet.
The second to last radar contact according to Flightaware.com was made with Indianapolis Center 61 seconds prior to the last, at 12:33:30 p.m. The reported heading is 45 degrees, which is NE, a groundspeed of 155 knots/178 mph, and flight level altitude of 8,900 feet.
In the 61 seconds between the two radar pings the, N5816S changed it's direction from Northeast to Southeast, decreased its airspeed by 55 knots/63 mph, and decreased its altitude by 600 feet according to the data from Flightaware.com
GPS locations and headings are reported to Flightaware.com following the last contact for groundspeed and altitude, although the reporting facility is listed as "Estimated" and "FlightAware Approximate."
According to flightaware.com N5816S filed an almost identical IFR flight plan for Tuesday May 19, around the same time as the one filed the day prior, and departing from and arriving at the same airport.
Flightaware.com data lists Cleveland Center as reporting a departure from Spruce Creek Airport at 8:27:58 a.m.
Position and orientations are listed following the departure but the reporting facility is listed as "Estimated."
The FAA has confirmed the aircraft in question, N5816S, departed Monday.
Officials said in their most recent media update Tuesday afternoon that searchers have still not found any signs of the plane, and are starting at square one.
Search efforts resumed at 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to Virginia State Police.
State police say they are starting at "square one" on Tuesday. They do not yet know if the plane crashed or if it only lost signal since there are no signs of wreckage and an emergency beacon has not been detected.
Authorities are looking primarily in a six-mile radius near the Saltville Rescue Squad. The area is mostly in a forest, and the terrain has had an impact on the search so far. The search area is the same as it was on Monday.
State police are not saying if anyone has heard from the pilot or passengers. Names are not being released at this time.
The wreckage site is in a remote location of Smyth County, east of Saltville. The plane was found on Flat Top Mountain.
Ed Murphy, a lieutenant with Virginia State Police, said they have conflicting reports about the number of people onboard. They say either two or three people were on the aircraft.
According to the NTSB, the plane is a Beech BE55. Multiple sources have confirmed to WDBJ7's Shayne Dwyer the tail number of the plane as N5816S. The plane was flying from Daytona Beach, Florida, and was headed to Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport in Ohio.
The plane was spotted by a Virginia State Police helicopter around 12:35 p.m. Tuesday. Troopers arrived at the scene of the crash around 3:05 p.m.
The plane lost radio contact around 12:40 p.m. Monday. Based on information from the radar it appears the pilot was attempting to avoid weather pockets, according to state police. While making the maneuver, the plane crashed into the side of Flat Top Mountain. Murphy said search pilots were also having difficulty flying in the weather Monday.
WDBJ7 has learned more about a missing plane in the Smyth County area.
Multiple sources have confirmed to WDBJ7's Shayne Dwyer the tail number of the plane as N5816S. The plane is pictured above in a photo from 2010 at the Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport -- which is where the aircraft was headed according to the FAA -- at a Mansfield Airport Day event according to photographer Randy Broderick.
Multiple sources have confirmed the people at the controls are "extremely experienced pilots."
The aircraft filed an Instrument Flight Rules, otherwise known as IFR, flight from Spruce Creek airport in Port Orange, Fl. to Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport in northern central Ohio for Monday May 19.
N5816S is a 1965 Beechcraft Baron 55 twin engine plane that last changed registration in 2010 according to aviation data website Flightaware.com, and the FAA.
The aircraft is owned by LWF Holdings INC according to online records. LWF Holdings is a registered LLC in Dover Delaware according to Delaware state records.
Requests for comment at LWF Holdings Monday evening were not accepted.
The plane last made radar contact according Flightaware.com at 12:34:31 p.m. with Indianapolis Center. It reported a heading of 122 degrees, which is ESE, a groundspeed of 100 knots/115 mph, and a flight level altitude of 8,300 feet.
The second to last radar contact according to Flightaware.com was made with Indianapolis Center 61 seconds prior to the last, at 12:33:30 p.m. The reported heading is 45 degrees, which is NE, a groundspeed of 155 knots/178 mph, and flight level altitude of 8,900 feet.
In the 61 seconds between the two radar pings the, N5816S changed it's direction from Northeast to Southeast, decreased its airspeed by 55 knots/63 mph, and decreased its altitude by 600 feet according to the data from Flightaware.com
GPS locations and headings are reported to Flightaware.com following the last contact for groundspeed and altitude, although the reporting facility is listed as "Estimated" and "FlightAware Approximate."
According to flightaware.com N5816S filed an almost identical IFR flight plan for Tuesday May 19, around the same time as the one filed the day prior, and departing from and arriving at the same airport.
Flightaware.com data lists Cleveland Center as reporting a departure from Spruce Creek Airport at 8:27:58 a.m.
Position and orientations are listed following the departure but the reporting facility is listed as "Estimated."
The FAA has confirmed the aircraft in question, N5816S, departed Monday.
Officials said in their most recent media update Tuesday afternoon that searchers have still not found any signs of the plane, and are starting at square one.
Search efforts resumed at 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to Virginia State Police.
State police say they are starting at "square one" on Tuesday. They do not yet know if the plane crashed or if it only lost signal since there are no signs of wreckage and an emergency beacon has not been detected.
Authorities are looking primarily in a six-mile radius near the Saltville Rescue Squad. The area is mostly in a forest, and the terrain has had an impact on the search so far. The search area is the same as it was on Monday.
State police are not saying if anyone has heard from the pilot or passengers. Names are not being released at this time.