At least 2 dead after a Piper PA-44-180 Seminole plane operated by Sunrise Aviation Academy crashed at the St Johns/Flagler County Line near Marineland, Florida

Student, instructor presumed dead in plane crash at Flagler-St. Johns county line


by: Larry Spruill, Action News Jax Updated: Jul 14, 2017 - 11:42 PM


Action News Jax is learning more about what could have caused a small plane to crash in the woods on the Flager/St. Johns county line.

The NTSB is investigating the crash. They believe an aviation instructor and student from a flight school in Ormond Beach were in the plane. The plane took off from Brunswick, Georgia, and was expected to land in Ormond Beach.

“This was a basic flight, evening-night flight, from Brunswick to Ormond Beach,” former airline pilot and Capt. Wayne Ziskal said.


That was the route of what Ziskal calls a simple flight plan, but the trip was anything but normal.

Piece by piece, search crews removed the plane from the woods on Friday in Flagler County after it crashed, presumably killing the aviation instructor and student pilot.

James Kestner said he was at home when he heard the crash.

“It was clearly an engine flaming out. Then very quickly, about 5 to 6 seconds later, I heard a loud boom and the ground actually shook,” Kestner said.

Now NTSB investigators are trying to figure out what happened. FAA records show the plane was manufactured in 1979 and was just acquired by Sunrise Aviation in February of this year.

Ziskal said investigators will look at everything from the plane to the conditions that night. 
“The weather was nice, the navigation was no problem, it’s dark to one side and it's light to the other side. The issue also then becomes was the airplane structurally sound. If there was an engine problem, the airplane could certainly fly on one engine,” Ziskal said.

Ziskal said there’s another factor to this investigation.

“There were several airports in the vicinity, St. Augustine over the shoulder, Flagler right near, several airports the plane could have landed at,” Ziskal said.



==============================


Jacksonville, Fl. - Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staley says it’s expected that no one survived a plane crash that happened near Marineland.

“The plane is heavily damaged, it doesn't look like there are any survivors.” Sheriff Staley said.

The sheriff said it’s a “search and recovery” operation now and the NTSB will investigate the incident.

The FAA has confirmed that 2 people were on board the aircraft , but the Sheriff’s Office received information that another person was on board, and have not been able to confirm and won’t be able to until they get to the wreckage.

The plane was found on the shore of the Intracoastal waterway of the Mangrove area of the River-to-the-Sea state park.

The sheriff says that the plane that crashed is from The Sunrise Aviation Academy, and the school has said they are searching for a missing instructor and student. The victims have not yet been identified.

At this point, investigators say, the plane had a “hard impact” and went straight down after clipping a tree. The Sheriff says that it doesn't appear the plane nosedived.

“Obviously something occurred that caused it to lose altitude” says Sheriff Staley

The NTSB will be working to determine the final cause and details of the crash.
 
Multiple agencies assisted in the search for the wreckage, including the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.

“Our hope was, of course, survivors,” Staley says.

The FAA says it lost radar contact with a Piper PA44 aircraft approximately 22 miles north of Ormond Beach at about 11 p.m. Thursday.

A witness reported seeing an aircraft go down in the area. The aircraft took off from Brunswick, GA and was heading to Ormond Beach.

This is a developing story, refresh throughout the day for updates.

=========================


A 12-hour search by land, water and air ended just before noon Friday when a Piper PA-44 Seminole trainer aircraft sought since the FAA first reported losing contact with it Thursday night was found upside-down in dense brush near Marineland and the Flagler/ St. Johns County line.

Crushed and cracked in half according to images just released by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, it appears those on board are dead, according to Sheriff Rick Staly.

The white airplane had been the subject of a search by multiple state, federal and local agencies since the FAA lost contact with it around 11 p.m. Thursday, Staly said.

The plane was being operated by Sunrise Flight Academy in Ormond Beach, and its training director confirmed a student from Saudi Arabia and an instructor are both missing, according to First Coast News.

The FAA said that it lost contact with the Piper PA-44 aircraft approximately 22 miles north of Ormond Beach. The Coast Guard said it went down in the vicinity of Pellicer Creek, after taking off from Brunswick and heading to Ormond Beach. Witnesses heard what they described as the sound of an engine sputtering as the aircraft flew by, according to First Coast News.


Just after 11:30 a.m., the main part of the aircraft was discovered by a news helicopter from Orlando’s WESH-TV, crashed in the 90-acre River to Sea Preserve, which straddles both sides of Florida and is owned jointly by Flagler County and the Town of Marineland.

Staly said he had been to the wreck site and it appears that the aircraft clipped a tree and flipped over. Only one victim’s body was visible when he joined investigators there Friday morning, one of its landing gear deployed on the flattened wreckage surrounded by dense palmettos, according to Sheriff’s Office photos.

“It is a very tragic ending to a search. You always hope you can find people alive. There is no indication we will find survivors,” Staly said. “… I can see one [body]. It is a very crumpled aircraft, and by how it’s lying, you can’t see into the fuselage.”

The 34-year-old flight school, which also calls itself Sunrise Aviation, is based at 740 Airport Road in Ormond Beach. Sunrise is also a flight training provider for Florida State College at Jacksonville’s degree programs in professional pilot technology, as well as at Polk State College at Lakeland, Florida. It has satellite training facilities at Jacksonville’s Cecil and Herlong Recreational airports. The academy says it is approved by the Federal Aviation Administration on its website.

Staly couldn’t confirm how many people were in the airplane as what was a search and rescue operation shifted to a recovery effort that will see a crane brought in to flip it over so investigators can get inside. Staff at the Sunrise Flight Academy’s satellite office at Craig Airport did not wish to comment when reached. But a sign on the front door of its Ormond Beach office said all school activities were cancelled Friday since it is “dealing with an emergency involving one of its aircraft,” according to an image tweeted by First Coast News. The note also states a meeting was set for Friday afternoon with all cadets and instructors.

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office command post was relocated to the crash site, which is on dry land, to “protect the scene.” The National Transportation Safety Board will take over the crash investigation.

“The indications are no one survived. It is clear one person is deceased inside the aircraft,” Staly said. “We can’t get inside to see how many more.”

Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Chief Mark Strobridge, who saw the wrecked aircraft, said it will be “days or weeks” before investigators can officially confirm who was on board. But rescuers got to the site on foot and via Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission airboat to find the aircraft “fairly intact,” Staly said.

“It was a hard impact,” he said, adding there was no sign of fire.

The Piper Seminole is a 27.6-foot-long aircraft with two 180-hp engines on a 38.6-foot wingspan, and has been built for more than 20 years, according to the aircraft company website.

Coast Guard assisted in the search for survivors, a crew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater was launched at 2:15 a.m. St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Rescue as well as the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office joined in the search efforts.

http://staugustine.com

MARINELAND, FL (WTLV/WJXX) -- The wreckage of a small plane that crashed late Thursday has been found in a remote area near the Flagler-St. Johns County line. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said he believes there were no survivors.

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the plane they found is the same one they had been looking for that flew out of Sunrise Aviation flight school in Ormond Beach near Daytona.

Sunrise Aviation director of training Patrick Murphy told First Coast News that a 27-year-old student from Saudi Arabia and a 70-year-old instructor went missing. He said he believes they were on the plane, but this has yet to be confirmed by authorities.

The FAA said it lost contact with a Piper PA-44 aircraft approximately 22 miles north of Ormond Beach around 11 p.m. Thursday.

The aircraft took off on what the flight school calls a routine flight from St. Simons Island, Georgia and was returning to Ormond Beach when it disappeared. A crew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater was launched at 2:15 a.m.

The sheriff said the plane might have clipped a tree before crashing. Witnesses heard what they described as the sound of an engine sputtering.

The 27-year-old student has a young daughter and wife in Saudi Arabia. He was aiming to go back home to fly for an airline, First Coast News has learned.

"Most of our students are international, so we get to know them close," Murphy said. "Students are family, particularly in this kind of program where students come to us for six or 12 months."

Sunrise Aviation has been around since the 1980s. An official with the flight school said this is the first crash in which someone was critically hurt or killed.


http://www.firstcoastnews.com







Date: 13-JUL-2017
Time: -23:00
Type:
Piper PA-44-180 Seminole
Owner/operator: Sunrise Aviation Academy
Registration: N2173S
C/n / msn: 44-7995245
Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities: 0
Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: St Johns/Flagler County Line near Marineland, Florida - United States of America
Phase: En route
Nature: Training
Departure airport: McKinnon St Simons Island (KSSI)
Destination airport: Ormond Beach Munir (KOMN)
Narrative:
The plane crashed under unknown circumstances. The aircraft came to rest inverted in mangrove terrain. The two pilots onboard the airplane were fatally injured.

Sources:
http://www.wokv.com/news/local/search-for-survivors-following-plane-crash-marineland/ZPCsHVAe2zVgjI67r7VS9H/
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/
http://www.wftv.com/news/local/sheriff-no-survivors-in-marineland-plane-crash-wreckage-found/559747176
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=2173S
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N2173S

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

======================== 

 

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

William S. Goldman killed, children, George and Marie, and their caretaker, Valeria Anselmi of Milan, Italy, were seriously injured after he crashed his Cirrus SR22 plane in a field about 1,000 feet west of Sonoma Skypark airport.

Federal aviation investigators Friday remained at the site of a deadly plane crash in the Sonoma Valley that killed William “Bill” Sachs Goldman, a San Francisco history professor and member of a renowned philanthropic family.

Goldman’s school-aged children, George and Marie, and their caretaker, Valeria Anselmi of Milan, Italy, were seriously injured in the crash during takeoff from Sonoma Skypark airport about 12:45 p.m. Thursday and rushed by helicopter and ground ambulances to area hospitals. Their conditions were not available Friday.

Goldman, 38, a University of San Francisco assistant professor of international studies, was piloting a single-engine Cirrus SR22 when the plane went down about two minutes after it took off, crashing in a nearby field east of Highway 12, according to official reports.

Federal investigators gave no preliminary assessment of what may have caused the crash.


National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson said an investigator from his agency and the Federal Aviation Administration as well as a technical expert from the airplane and engine manufacturers will participate in a several-day analysis of the crash site.

“They’re looking for any kind of indication something was amiss, with the engines, the power, a propeller,” Knudson said.

From there, the investigation could take six months to a year and involve reviewing the pilot’s record and background, the airplane’s condition and maintenance as well as factors on the ground that day, including weather, flight plans and communication systems.

Goldman’s airplane appeared to have deployed a ballistic parachute, a safety feature unique to a limited number of aircraft models and best used about 400 feet above ground. Investigators will analyze whether Goldman activated the parachute, which operates manually, or if it deployed on impact.

Last year, the manufacturer of Goldman’s airplane, Cirrus Aircraft, was given a safety award by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Institute because of the company’s effort to improve its aircraft safety record, which hit a low in 2011 with 16 fatal accidents but has since improved, according to the safety institute.

A key factor to an improved safety record, with an accident rate at about half the industry average according to the organization, was getting pilots to activate the parachute more often.

The ballistic parachute is a unique feature of the plane and functions best at a minimum 400 feet above ground. Goldman’s plane crashed within about two minutes after takeoff and it’s unknown precisely how far above ground the aircraft reached.

Investigators may have to rely on witness statements to estimate the plane’s height because it’s possible the plane never reached an altitude where it might have been detected by radar, according to Knudson. That height depends on the terrain.

“We look at all of those things, and then we come to a determination of probable cause of the crash,” Knudson said.

Goldman was born in Washington, D.C., to Richard Goldman and Susan Sachs Goldman.

He is the grandson of Richard N. and Rhoda H. Goldman, who began the Goldman Environmental Prize honoring people involved in grassroots environmental efforts around the world, often called the “Green Nobel.”

Goldman is married to Serra Falk Goldman, a San Francisco attorney at Falk, Cornell & Associates law firm, who is on the USF School of Law Board of Trustees.

His family couldn’t be reached Friday.

Goldman has taught at University of San Francisco since 2012 as an assistant professor in international studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

University President Paul Fitzgerald released a statement late Thursday about Goldman, saying the USF community was “devastated,” calling him “an accomplished scholar, a beloved and generous teacher, and a valued member of our community.”

Goldman earned his pilot’s license in 2009 and his medical certification, required of all pilots, was most recently renewed July 11, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor.

Since 2013, Goldman had flown 13 missions helping critically ill patients get to medical appointments and services for a Santa Monica-based charity, Angel Flight West.

Josh Olson, Angel Flight West executive director, said Goldman was based out of San Carlos and flew missions that stretched from southern Oregon to Central California.


His last flight for the organization was on June 1. He flew a Morro Bay woman in her 40s suffering from a seizure disorder and chronic neuropathy to the Bay Area where she was receiving a rare treatment regimen at Stanford University. Goldman was one of about 1,500 pilots in the western United States who donate their time and planes to give adults and children with serious medical conditions or other significant needs free air transportation, often to receive medical treatment.

Olson said the pilots’ donations are significant, given the cost of air travel and the travel time involved.

“Bill and others have repeatedly told me they get more out of it than they’re giving, even though it’s an expensive and time-consuming commitment,” Olson said. “He was a guy who had a zest for life and was really generous.”

Ron Price, manager of Sonoma Skypark, said Goldman first flew into the airport on Tuesday and had told someone at the airport he and his family were leaving on a short trip and planning to return.

The airport has no tower, and pilots are under no obligation to report a flight plan unless they intend to travel in a controlled airspace, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Price was outside when Goldman’s plane took off, and then “I heard an explosion and saw a puff of smoke” in the nearby field on the other side of a road from the airport.

“I am saying a prayer for the kids who are in the hospital,” Price said.

The Sonoma County sheriff’s coroner will conduct a medical examination to determine how Goldman died (perhaps blunt force trauma suffered in a plane crash?) An office spokeswoman said the examination has not yet occurred.



===============

SONOMA COUNTY (CBS SF) — A single-engine plane crashed in Sonoma County Thursday afternoon, killing one person.

A Sonoma County Fire and Emergency dispatcher said the crash happened around 12:45 p.m. in the area of San Luis Road and Broadway south of Sonoma.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane was a single-engine Cirrus SR22 and it crashed in a field about 1,000 feet west of Sonoma Skypark airport.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said one person had been killed and three others aboard the plane taken to a local hospital.


William S. Goldman. (Photo via University of San Francisco)

Officials later identified the man killed as 38-year-old San Francisco resident William Sachs Goldman, who was an assistant professor at the University of San Francisco.

Goldman is the grandson of the late San Francisco philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman.

Goldman’s two grade-school-age children, George and Marie, were also on the plane. They were flown to Children’s Hospital in Oakland. Their current condition has not been released.

Also on board was the children’s nanny, from Milan, Italy. She was transported to Sonoma Valley Hospital by ambulance.





=====================

SMALL PLANES CONTINUE TO KILL PEOPLE:  Grandson of Goldman philanthropists killed in Sonoma Valley plane crash, children and nanny injured

 
CHRISTI WARREN


THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | July 13, 2017, 1:47PM


The grandson of San Francisco’s renowned philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman died Thursday and his two children and a woman believed to be their nanny were seriously injured when their single-engine Cirrus SR22 plane crashed south of Sonoma soon after takeoff.

William “Bill” S. Goldman, 38, a University of San Francisco assistant professor of international studies, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman, Valeria Anselmi of Milan, Italy, and his two grade school age children, George and Marie, were hospitalized.

His wife, Serra Falk Goldman, a San Francisco attorney, could not be reached Thursday. A woman answering the phone at Falk, Cornell & Associates law firm declined comment.

The plane took off from Sonoma Skypark airport around 12:45 p.m., according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, and went down about two minutes later, crashing in a nearby field.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.



Assistant Schell-Vista Fire Chief Mike Mulas said a half-dozen civilians arrived at the crash site before emergency personnel and pulled the children from the wreckage.

“All three of the injuries were severe to critical,” Mulas said, adding that emergency medics tried to shield the survivors from Goldman, moving them away from the wreckage.

“It was just a tragic situation, tragic thing,” he said.

The children were taken to Children’s Hospital Oakland by helicopter, one by REACH at 1:45 p.m. and the other by Sheriff’s Office helicopter Henry 1 at 2:07 p.m., according to a Redcom dispatcher. Anselmi was taken by ambulance to Queen of the Valley Hospital at 1:20 p.m.

Neither hospital was able to provide status updates on their conditions.

The Goldman name is attached to several prestigious philanthropic efforts. Best known is the Goldman Environmental Prize, begun by Bill Goldman’s grandparents, Richard N. and Rhoda H. Goldman. It honors grassroots environmental individuals from around the world for significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment. Each winner receives an award of $150,000 — the largest award in the world for grassroots environmentalists — and is often referred to as the “Green Nobel.”

The eponymous foundation gave $700 million to more than 2,500 grantees in its 60 years of existence. The fund closed in 2012.

Numerous other foundations related to the family exist, including the Richard W. Goldman Family Foundation that Bill Goldman and his brother and sister founded in 2012 in memory of their father.

Bill Goldman also served on the board of directors for the New Israel Fund, a nonprofit based in New York City, that supports civil rights and democracy in Israel, and the Walter and Elise Haas Fund in San Francisco that’s dedicated to economic security, education, Jewish life and the arts in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Bill Goldman was also a descendant of Levi Strauss, who in 1873 patented denim blue jeans.

He was born and raised in Washington, D.C, the son of Richard Goldman and Susan Sachs Goldman. He attended the Sidwell Friends School, received his undergraduate degree at Yale University, and both his master’s and doctoral degrees from UC Berkeley. He had taught at USF since 2012.

University President Paul Fitzgerald released a statement late Thursday about Goldman, saying the USF community was “devastated,” calling him “an accomplished scholar, a beloved and generous teacher, and a valued member of our community.”

Goldman enjoyed choral music, photography and especially flying for Angel Flight West, a charitable organization providing transportation for critically ill patients and their families.

Goldman’s plane is registered out of Palo Alto but the family lives in San Francisco. The aircraft wasn’t based at the Sonoma Skypark, according to Robin Tatman, president of the airport’s Experimental Aircraft Association chapter.

Cirrus planes are equipped with a unique parachute system that can be deployed in case of emergencies. While there was no official word on whether Goldman deployed his plane’s parachute, a witness thought he did.

Gina Isi, of Sonoma, was on her lunch break outside cork company Ganau America on Carneros Oak Lane in Sonoma watching the runway when she heard the plane take off.

“It was just at the beginning of its ascent, when I heard it — like it was going to stall,” she said. “It sounded like it choked a little bit, so I was like, ‘Holy cow!’ and then it seemed like it was going to recover, like I heard more revving, and then it just died.”

She watched as the plane disappeared behind a grove of trees, and then heard a pop — what she believes was the sound of the parachute.

“He must have deployed it under 200 feet,” she said. Isi said she did not hear the plane crash.








Date: 13-JUL-2017
Time: 12:45
Type:
Cirrus SR22T
Owner/operator: DDLV LLC
Registration: N821SG
C/n / msn: 0185
Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities: 0
Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: West of Sonoma Skypark Airport (0Q9), Sonoma, CA - United States of America
Phase: Take off
Nature: Unknown
Departure airport: Sonoma Skypark (0Q9)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
The aircraft experienced a deployment of the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) and impact with open field terrain shortly after takeoff from Sonoma Skypark Airport (0Q9) in Sonoma, California. The airplane sustained substantial damage and one of the four occupants onboard was fatally injured. Three occupants onboard the aircraft received serious injuries. It has not been discerned whether the CAPS was deployed prior to terrain impact at insufficient altitude or as a result of said impact with the terrain.

Sources:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/07/13/single-engine-small-plane-crash-schellville-sonoma-county/
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/7196525-181/at-least-one-dead-in?artslide=0
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=821SG