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Posted by B Darnell on Wed Jul 23, 2003 10:34:06 AM
In reply top Hunter Down it he USA posted by B Darnell on Tue Jul 22, 2003 03:27:24 PM
FATAL PITTSTON TOWNSHIP FLIGHT
Texas pilot dies in crash
By BONNIE ADAMS and LANE FILLER
badams@leader.net lfiller@leader.net
FATAL PITTSTON TOWNSHIP FLIGHT
PITTSTON TWP. - Pat Perugino and his co-workers were doing excavation work Tuesday morning when they heard a jet crash in a nearby field and saw a huge ball of flames.
"We ran down as soon as we heard."
The men rushed into the woods where fuel and burning plane parts produced a column of black smoke. They found the pilot and pulled him from beneath pieces of metal.
Perugino, of Plains Township, said the pilot appeared to be unconscious - they later learned he was already dead. The men searched for other victims until officials told them to leave.
Perugino's co-worker from Stell Enterprises used a bulldozer to quickly plow an access road to the crash site for emergency personnel.
The 1957 British T-MK 7 Hawker Hunter fighter jet crashed shortly after take-off, less than two miles from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.
Luzerne County Deputy Coroner William Lisman identified the pilot as Tom "Sharkbait" Delashaw from Texas. He was the only person aboard the twoseat jet. Lisman was summoned to the scene after an emergency call to county 911 at about 9 a.m.
An autopsy was performed at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital Tuesday night. Lisman said special procedures are followed in a pilot's autopsy to determine his physical condition prior to a crash. He said Delashaw died from traumatic injuries suffered in the crash. The manner of death was ruled accidental.
A source familiar with the aircraft said the jet had attempted takeoff during the weekend but it was aborted because of mechanical problems. The source said maintenance personnel from Canada had worked on the aircraft. The source didn't know what kind of maintenance problems the jet had experienced.
"They say it took off and just never gained any height," said Bob Kozak of Avoca, a devoted airplane watcher. "They've been working on it for months and months, and last night at 8 they were still working on it. One of the maintenance guys told me they thought something bad was gonna happen every time it took off."
One official who had been at the scene said an ejector seat and partially opened parachute were near the pilot. Airport Director Barry Centini said the restored jet had an ejector seat, but he didn't know if the pilot had used it.
The ordnance disposal team from Fort Indiantown Gap was at the crash site Tuesday afternoon and did detonate the devices, suggesting strongly that Delashaw had not ejected. Assistant airport Director Wy Gowell said jets with ejection seats contain explosive devices to power the seat and to blow off the canopy so the pilot can eject from the cockpit. Those devices are hazardous and must be disposed of.
Centini said the jet was to be flown Tuesday to Canada where it was being delivered to its new owner. The jet had been at the airport for about six years and was being refurbished by the new owner's maintenance workers. He said a replacement engine had been installed in the aircraft.
Airport officials said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are expected at the scene today.
Centini said the plane broke into several pieces. He said airport personnel were the first at the scene. Airport operations were unaffected.
The Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency coordinated the cleanup. Gowell said the jet contained a full fuel load of 2,000 to 2,500 gallons.
Eyewitness Linda Card was sitting in the cab of her husband's tractor-trailer in a warehouse parking lot when she saw the green-colored jet flying low above a field about 150 yards away. "To me, it looked like he was trying to land."
She demonstrated with her hand how the plane tipped to the left and the right. "It's in my mind. It won't go away. He was rocking. It looked like he tried to straighten up."
Her husband, Lester, was inside the warehouse and felt the building shake. The Mississippi couple had just delivered a truckload of furniture. Several businesses are located in the industrial complex off of Commerce Road.
Former Dupont Fire Chief Eric Cocco pointed out that the pilot avoided nearby high-tension power lines, the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, homes and a Suscon Road fuel storage tank facility. The huge white tanks were visible through the trees about 100 yards from the crash.
"The tanks are up. That's all I dread hearing on the radio," Cocco said.
Gowell said he knew Delashaw, an experienced fighter pilot who had flown combat missions in the Vietnam war.
Used to hearing and seeing planes take off from the airport, Anne Ozark said something seemed wrong with the small jet as she watched from her porch on Lidy Road shortly after 9 a.m.
"It was not the same sound when they take off," said Ozark, who headed toward the crash site toting a camera. "I'm looking, 'Oh my God he's low.' He never pulled up."
Knowing the area, Ozark said, she feared the jet crashed close to the fuel storage tanks. "That was terrible to see something like that."
Several travelers said Tuesday's crash wouldn't keep them out of the skies.
Heading to Orlando, Fla., Moosic residents John Coyle and his wife, Justine, didn't hear about the incident until they got to the airport. On learning of the crash, Justine looked a bit grim but John Coyle said, "It doesn't scare me. We're leaving at noon and flying through Cincinnati, and I think it's going to be a great trip."
Loretta Nemo, who arrived at the airport from Michigan, described a scary experience of her own. "Coming in yesterday (she and her husband own a twin-engine Aztec, which he pilots) we had a total loss of electrical power. We couldn't even find the airport for the longest time. It made us think twice, but we've been flying so long, nothing phases us."
Nemo said she spent some time watching the Hawker Hunter on Monday after she landed.
"I was here yesterday watching that Hawker Hunter and it taxied up the runway like it was going to take off, and then it slowed real quick and didn't. I guess they could have just been taxiing it, but it seemed like they wanted to fly and then, real quick, they decided not to."
US Airways customer service representative Meg Horger said, "People have been concerned but not nervous. There have been no cancellations or delays of flights and no cancellations of seat reservations. The last two flights outs were essentially full."
- Staff Writer Jerry Lynott contributed to this story.