
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 16, 1995                   TAG: 9507110108
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHLANDS                                 LENGTH: Short

3 KILLED IN CRASH OF SMALL PLANE IN THUNDERSTORM

Three people were killed when their plane apparently broke apart in the air during a thunderstorm and crashed in a rocky pasture in the Southwest Virginia mountains, authorities said Thursday.

There were no survivors. The identities of the victims traveling from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Lancaster, Pa., were being withheld while relatives were notified.

The pilot had asked air-traffic controllers for clearance to descend because ice was forming on the plane, state police Lt. J.B. Willis said.

A short time later, about 10 p.m. Wednesday, the pilot lost contact with controllers, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said.

Witnesses who heard the plane shortly before the crash near the border of Tazewell and Russell counties said there was a severe thunderstorm at the time.

A trooper spotted a section of the plane late Wednesday, Willis said. But searchers couldn't get to the location in the dark because of the rugged terrain.

After early morning fog lifted Thursday, officers in a state police helicopter spotted the wreckage, and rescue squads arrived at the crash site a mile north of U.S. 19 about 9:30 a.m., he said.

- Associated Press

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB