John E. Everson, 65, of Danielson, Conn., died after he crashed his Extra EA 300/L plane in a wooded area in Cheshire County, Winchester, New Hampshire

 The Extra EA 300/L plane that crashed and killed John E. Everson, 65, of Danielson, Conn.

 

A Connecticut man who died in a plane crash in Winchester Thursday was an experienced pilot, according to two pilots who knew him or his record in aerobatic competitions.
John E. Everson, 65, of Danielson, Conn., died in the crash which occurred around 11:30 a.m. in a heavily wooded area of the town, in the area of Warwick Road.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the incident; an investigator arrived at the scene of the fatal crash Friday afternoon, according to Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the federal agency.
On Saturday evening, Knudson didn’t have any information about the cause of the crash. He said it’s too early for the agency to know what happened. The investigator has yet to review information including air traffic control communications, weather reports and radar records from around the time of the crash, he said.
Knudson also said that the NTSB had yet to determine Everson’s intended destination.
However, Everson was expected at the Green Mountain Aerobatic Contest in Springfield, Vt., this weekend, according to contest director Bill Gordon.
The contest is put on by the New England Aerobatics Club, a chapter of the International Aerobatic Club, a nonprofit organization based in Wisconsin with more than 4,000 members across the globe.
The group leads aerobatic flight training and competitions throughout the country. Aerobatic flying involves performing aerial maneuvers or flying in formations, for recreation or sport.
Everson had been a member of the New England Aerobatics Club since 2004, according to Mike Heuer, the president of the International Aerobatic Club.
He also flew in several competitions and frequently attended the annual Green Mountain Aerobatic Contest in Vermont, Heuer said.
Everson competed there in at least nine of the past 12 years, according to records on the website of the International Aerobatic Club,.
According to competition records reviewed by Heuer, Everson finished in first place in the contest last year, out of 11 competitors who flew at his skill level.
Everson flew at the “sportsman” level last year, the second lowest of five skill levels.
At the sportsman level, Everson would have been able to perform maneuvers including spins, rolls and loops in the air, according to Heuer.
Heuer didn’t know Everson personally, but was saddened to learn of his death.
“It’s a huge loss,” he said. “We don’t like to lose any pilots, colleagues,” he said.
Heuer said that accidents in aerobatic airplanes are extremely rare. He added that the plane Everson was flying when he crashed was of high quality.
Jim Peters, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, said in an email Thursday night that the plane that crashed was an Extra 300.
According to FAA aircraft registry records, Everson owned an Extra EA 300/L manufactured in 2005.
“They’re probably one of the highest-quality built airplanes in the world,” Heuer said of planes built by the German company, EXTRA.
The planes aren’t only good for performing maneuvers in the sky, but also for “cross-country flying,” he said.
EXTRA planes are expensive and hand-built, Heuer said. This contradicts what Peters had previously told The Sentinel, that the aircraft that crashed in Winchester was home-built.
According to FAA records, Everson owns at least two other planes, neither of which was manufactured by EXTRA.
Everson appears to have been the president of a Providence, R.I.-based asphalt paving and site construction services company, Narragansett Improvement Co., according to the company’s website.
The website says that in 1970, Everson became the fourth-generation family member to join the company and that in 1992, he became its president.
No one at the company could be reached Saturday to confirm these facts. However, the company’s address matches the one Everson listed in his plane registration records with the FAA.
Sheldon Apsell, 74, of Boston is the treasurer of the New England Aerobatics Club and knew Everson from competitions.
“He was a skillful pilot. He was experienced; he was competent; he had a good head on his shoulders,” he said of Everson. “That’s why I’m totally shocked by this.”
He described Everson as level-headed and modest.
“This whole thing is just so hard for us to believe,” he said.

http://www.sentinelsource.com

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By Reformer Staff Editors note: This story has been updated.

WINCHESTER, N.H. — Emergency personnel responded to Scotland Road at just before 11:30 a.m. on Thursday after receiving a 911 call about a possible plane crash in Mirey Brook Swamp, which straddles the state line between Winchester and Warwick, Mass.

Following an intensive search that ended around 5:40 p.m., searchers confirmed a downed aircraft in the vicinity of Curtis Pond off of Warwick Road, also known as Route 78. They also confirmed the pilot of the aircraft was dead.

The first call to 911 came in around 11:20 a.m., after Kumaran Spaulding heard a strange noise in the air. Spaulding was walking in a field on his father's property on Scotland Road with his 13-year-old son, Darian, who was visiting from Indiana. Darian Spaulding said he heard the sound of an airplane engine but it sounded like the engine was being throttled up and down. Then he and his father spotted the airplane pop out of the low-hanging clouds before it went over the tree line and disappeared from view.

While Kumaran Spaulding said he heard what appeared to be the sounds of a crash, Darian said "Suddenly, the valley was very silent."

Emergency personnel from around the region — including members of the Winchester Fire Department and Winchester Police Department, the Walpole Fire Department, the Keene Fire Department, the New Hampshire State Police and New Hampshire Fish and Game — converged in a field on the Spaulding property shortly after the Spauldings called 911. At the same time, other witnesses were also making emergency calls.

Bradley Brewer was working in his barn on Manning Hill when he heard the same sounds Kumaran and Darian Spaulding described. "I heard an engine sputtering and I heard one whale of a thump right in line with the trees and nothing after that. It made the hair on my arms stand up."

Lt. Aaron Cooper, of the Keene Fire Department, was put in charge of the search team. He told the media that they had received nearly a half-dozen phone calls reporting the crash and at the time considered it very credible that the crash had occurred.

As emergency personnel were working to triangulate the location using the witness accounts, a pair of drones were launched from the field on Scotland Road to search Mirey Brook Swamp, which straddles the state line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. With more information collected, the drones returned to the field and Winchester Fire Chief Barry Kellom moved the command center to the Winchester Fire Department at about 3:20 p.m.

Fire Mutual Aid then sent a call out to recruit 20 people to conduct a foot search of the area where the plane was suspected of crashing.

Kellom held a press conference at the fire department at 3:30 p.m. He said accounts from different witnesses matched up and it was just a matter of triangulating the witness accounts to determine where best to conduct the search. Fish and Game wardens were searching the Upper Snow Road and Manning Hill Road area, which he described as ledgey and mountainous.

"At this point, any search will be very challenging and time consuming," said Kellom during the press conference. "But right now we are taking this as a rescue operation so time is of the essence."

With a weather front expected to move into the area around 6 p.m., all search helicopters had been grounded.

"We've been in contact with airports and they have no reports of missing aircraft or even any aircraft that has taken off," said Kellom. At 6:45 p.m., when Kellom held a press conference with Fish and Game Warden Lt. Dave Walsh and Michael Todd, from the N.H. Department of Safety, it was still unknown where the plane had originated from or who the pilot was.

"It's in the hands of the [Federal Aviation Administration] and the [National Safety and Transportation Board] now," said Kellom.

He described the area the plane was found in as heavily wooded and "a tough-access location." At the time of the press conference, law enforcement personnel were securing the scene in advance of the arrival of investigators from the FAA and the NSTB.=======================



By ANDY CASTILLO
Recorder Staff
Friday, July 14, 2017


WINCHESTER, N.H. — Police have identified the pilot killed in Thursday morning’s plane crash just over the New Hampshire border.

John Everson, 65, from Danielson, Conn., was flying just over the state border with Northfield around 11:30 a.m. when witnesses heard a loud noise, and saw his plane — described as a “stunt plane” — go down in a heavily wooded area off Route 78.

Jim Peters, spokesman for the FAA, identified the plane as an Extra 300 aircraft, noting the pilot was “the only person on board. The FAA will investigate and the National Transportation Safety Board will determine the probable cause of the accident.”

Extra Aircraft’s website describes the plane as a “two-seat, tandem arrangement, low wing aerobatic monoplane with conventional (taildragger) landing gear.”

It’s not yet known where Everson took off from. But airport officials in the area have said all their planes were accounted for.


Everson’s plane in the woods was found around 5 p.m. by rescue workers searching on foot. Helicopters couldn’t assist those on the ground because of bad weather. Drones and ATVs were used in the search, and emergency officials at one point formed a volunteer search party.

“As ground search and rescue efforts were underway, Winchester search and rescue crews were joined by crews from Cheshire County, Hinsdale, Keene, Richmond, Swanzey, Troy and Walpole safety agencies. Assistance was also provided from Northfield and Warwick,” read a statement from Department of Public Safety Spokesman Michael D. Todd.

Working with New Hampshire’s Fish and Game department, responders used 911 calls to triangulate the crash site’s location.

Date:	13-JUL-2017
Time:	11:30 a.m.
Type:	Extra EA 300/L
Owner/operator:	Private
Registration:	N210MX
C/n / msn:	1210
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	0
Airplane damage:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	Cheshire County, Winchester, New Hampshire -   United States of America
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Private
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The light plane crashed under unknown circumstances, apparently after a technical failure. The aircraft was destroyed and the sole pilot onboard died in the crash.

Sources:

http://www.reformer.com/stories/police-investigating-possible-plane-crash,513439
https://www.google.com/maps/place/342+Manning+Hill+Rd,+Winchester,+NH+03470/@42.742191,-72.3806844,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x89e11595ea0f4223:0xa7fff520cc5f36e7?hl=en-us
http://www.asias.faa.gov/pls/apex/f?p=100:95:8102783097280::NO::P95_EVENT_LCL_DATE,P95_LOC_CITY_NAME,P95_REGIST_NBR:13-JUL-17,KEENE,N210MX
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=210mx
http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000707330.html