Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 18, 1994 TAG: 9405180077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MANASSAS - A pilot who died along with his passenger last year while trying to land at the Manassas airport apparently was distracted by an open cockpit door, federal safety investigators said.
But moments after Carlton R. Croyle Jr., 32, of Herndon and Robert M. DeLeo, 31, of Springfield left the airport June 7, the Beechcraft Sierra 24 faltered.
``I'm gonna stay in the pattern once,'' Croyle, the pilot, radioed the tower, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. ``My door just opened up.''
The tower cleared Croyle to land. He banked hard to the right and the plane's wing hit the ground.
- Associated Press
Admitted killer flees, may be in woods
CHESAPEAKE - Police have distributed more than 2,000 wanted posters for an admitted killer who walked away from a mental hospital three weeks ago.
Authorities are concentrating the search for John Thomas Midgette near Central State Hospital in Petersburg, where he escaped, and in the woods of North Carolina.
``He is a woodsman whose passion is hunting,'' Virginia State Police Lt. Col. David Mitchell said. ``And even though he's been confined to a mental institution, he is very logical. Very cagey.''
Midgette, 52, escaped April 23, four years after he was found innocent by reason of insanity in the shooting death of his boss. Midgette admitted the slaying.
- Associated Press
Crab prices soar after poor harvest
GLOUCESTER - The crab harvest is so poor this season that one variety is selling for five times the usual price.
After 30 days of harvesting, Michael Shackelford of York River Seafood summed up the season: ``Record prices and little or no production.''
The lack of crabs has driven the price of picking crabs to $1 a pound from their usual 20 cents a pound.
Crab catches around the Chesapeake Bay have been poor for two years, leading to new regulations this year designed to allow young crabs time to mature and breed.
- Associated Press
by CNB