NY - 2 Die in Training Flight Crash

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First published: Friday, March 31, 2000 Title: 2 die in training flight crash

By LINDA TRISCHITTA and KENNETH C. CROWE II , Staff writers

Milton -- Student pilot and his instructor are killed when their four-seater Cessna goes down into a wooded area shortly after takeoff

A single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff Thursday afternoon at Saratoga County Airport, killing a flight instructor and student pilot upon impact before bursting into flames, officials said.

The four-seat Cessna aircraft plunged into woods at the 550-acre airfield on Geyser Road at Greenfield Avenue around 2:20 p.m. after the engine failed, according to witnesses and investigators. The plane had taken off southwest into 14 mph winds under cloudy skies. After the accident, the smell of burning plastic lingered in the air.

"I saw the plane fly south over the airport,'' said Gene Johansen, a Geyser Road resident who reported the accident to 911. "I saw it turn east over Geyser Road. I saw it roll over and go upside down. Then it crashed.''

Daniel T. Melita, 24, of Gloversville, the instructor, and Alfred W. Sutch Jr., 31, of Broadalbin, were killed, according to Saratoga County Sheriff James Bowen.

Johansen, who lives across the street from the airfield, was outside working on his boat when the accident occurred.

"I like to believe the pilot was trying to turn back to the airport to land,'' Johansen said. "My heart goes out to the people who were killed.''

The county airport, about six miles west of Saratoga Springs, is managed by Richmor Aviation and hosts a flight school. People headed to the Saratoga Race Course and Saratoga Performing Arts Center entertainers use the airport, as do hobbyists and flying students.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators were traveling to the scene Thursday afternoon from New Jersey, according to Saratoga County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Edward M. Rooney. They will be reassembling the plane today at an airport hangar as part of their probe, Bowen said.

Late Thursday, workers were clearing trees from the area of the crash to gain access to the wreckage.

Rooney said the plane's two occupants were believed to have died instantly and were burned beyond recognition. Their bodies were removed to Saratoga Hospital.

In the Richmor Aviation office, staffers talked in hushed tones. A blue board held wing-shaped swatches cut from the shirts of new pilots after their first solo flights, marked with the date and their instructor's initials. A propeller plane made from Diet Coke cans hangs in the window with a view to the runways, where a plane landed safely an hour after the crash.

Student pilot Linda Reese was watching landings and takeoffs before the accident, what she called part of her training that has accumulated to 30 hours. She is on the verge of taking her first solo flight, and spoke with a shaking voice while wringing her hands. The victims were friends.

"I saw the plane take off, it's a little bigger than what I fly in,'' Reese said. "It went up about 50 feet and then out of my view. Then I saw a mechanic's car zooming after it, headed toward the woods. I saw black smoke, and I could smell it.''

Reese said she ran into the Richmor office, "but they already knew that something was wrong. I was scared.''

John Dower was walking his son's Jack Russell terrier near the airport entrance when "I heard this hell of a explosion. It sounded like a couple of planes colliding. Then I saw a lot of black smoke,'' Dower said.

The 2,400-pound, 15-year-old fixed-wing Cessna 172P had a 160 horsepower engine, tail number N98574. It is owned by Richmor Aviation of Scotia, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said the plane had a previous accident on April 28, 1996, when it "flared too high on landing, stalled and impacted the nose gear on the runway'' at Rutland State Airport in Rutland, Vt. writer Mike Hurewitz contributed to this story.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=30838&category=F

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 31, 2000


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