WIX Archives
Much More Detailed Report
Posted by B Darnell on Thu Nov 20, 2003 04:41:32 PM
In reply top T-34 Down posted by B Darnell on Thu Nov 20, 2003 08:28:46 AM
Nov. 19, 2003, 11:56PM
Plane crash near Lake Conroe kills two men
2nd craft in mock combat returns safely to airport
By TERRY KLIEWER
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
WILLIS -- One of two planes that appeared to be performing mock aerial combat Wednesday lost a wing, possibly in a collision, and crashed west of Lake Conroe, killing the pilot and passenger.
Donald L. Wylie, 64, of Montgomery and William Eisenhauer Jr., 39, of Centerville, Ohio, died in the crash, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety's Conroe office. The Harris County medical examiner's office said it was trying to confirm their identities Wednesday night.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the second plane returned safely to Hooks Memorial Airport in northwest Harris County shortly after the 10:20 a.m. crash.
A state trooper at the crash site said the downed plane was a T-34 trainer owned by Texas Air Aces Inc., based at Hooks, east of Tomball. Company employees declined to comment on the crash or on the plane's occupants.
Wylie, a former F-4 Phantom and B-52 bomber pilot, founded Texas Air Aces in 1992. The Spring company is best known for the simulated combat flights it sells to customers who fire laser-armed "machine guns" to register "kills" on each other. In 1995, he also founded Aviation Safety Training, which trains experienced pilots to handle turbulence and other hazardous flight situations.
The plane went down in thick woods about 20 yards south of Mount Pleasant Cemetery Road north of Montgomery and west of the lake.
Several witnesses told state troopers that the wing of the plane that crashed appeared to fall off or be clipped, and it crashed in a pasture, said Trooper Bob Kerns in Montgomery County.
Jim Lebus, a retired corporate pilot, was starting a round of golf when his attention was drawn to the sky.
"Two planes were spiraling around each other, like in mock combat," he said. "They looked like they were coming down from about 4,000 or 4,500 feet to 3,000 or 3,500 feet. One looked like it spiraled down a little steeply."
Lebus said he did not continuously watch the planes, "but I don't believe they collided."
He said he was watching when one of them, missing a wing, plunged behind the tree line. "The whole wing came off," he said. "I just looked at it in disbelief."
Mount Pleasant Village resident Susie Aguirre, 19, said she saw the plane's wing tumbling down out of the clear sky toward a spot south of her home.
"It was this big, longish piece of metal coming down pretty fast," she said. "Then I heard a sort of loud sound of an airplane motor, but I couldn't see any plane anywhere."
Mount Pleasant-area residents, long accustomed to the buzz and growl of the aerobatics flights taking place high overhead, said they paid little attention to the two planes until they were startled by a noise.
"It wasn't an explosion, but kind of a loud crash," said Debbie Insel, 45, whose preparations to go to work in Willis were interrupted by what she believes was the T-34 slamming into the ground less than a mile from her home.
State Trooper Jeff Owles, who was at the scene most of the day, said the wreckage of the fuselage, tail and one wing were in a tightly confined area just off Mount Pleasant Cemetery Road. The wing fell to earth about a half-mile south of the site, he said.
Chuck Eisenhauer of Centerville, a Dayton suburb, said his brother "was just one of those guys who loves to fly."
"He was doing what he loved to do. His eyes just absolutely lit up over it," he said.
Eisenhauer said his brother had been a pilot for 15 years and was employed by Airborne Express. Eisenhauer said he was not certain why his brother was in the Houston area but thought it was work-related. He leaves his wife, Janice, and three sons.
The bodies of the victims were removed by rescue workers about 4:30 p.m., and authorities afterward began to set up floodlights to illuminate the crash scene.
A three-member National Transportation Safety Board investigating team was expected to spend much of the evening sifting the wreckage for evidence of a possible structural failure or midair accident involving the other plane.
The NTSB team planned to hold a news conference early today to report its initial findings, but a full investigation could take weeks to complete.
FAA records show the crashed plane is an A-45 owned by a limited-liability corporation called PRVNY PLUK, whose president and agent is Houston oilman Patrick J. Moran, according to corporate records.
Moran is a pilot and also has a company called Extreme Flying. Moran Resources referred calls to lawyer Tom Zabel, who said Moran was out of town and was not believed to have been involved in the crash.
Zabel said PRVNY PLUK leases several planes to Texas Air Aces.
FAA records show one previous incident involving the crashed plane, identified by its tail number. In 1994, records say, the nose gear failed to extend for a landing.
After a 1999 crash in which a wing came off another T-34 during a simulated dogfight in Georgia, the NTSB found stress-related cracks in the wing spar.
As a temporary fix, the FAA limited the airspeed and gravity load for operating these aircraft. The manufacturer, Raytheon, of which Beech is a division, recommended more frequent wing inspections, and in 2001 the FAA issued a directive requiring them.
The FAA said the plane that crashed was an A-45. AST's Web site says the A-45, which has the military designation T-34, is based on the Beech Model 35 Bonanza and was originally designed for the Air Force as a trainer.
According to the Web page, AST operates six of the planes "with updated engines and new Baron wing spars."