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

DATE: MONDAY, October 2, 1995                   TAG: 9510020084
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WEST POINT                                LENGTH: Short

SKYDIVERS' PLANE LEGAL, NOT TOO FULL, 1 OWNER CLAIMS

A skydiving plane that crashed last month killing 12 people had not been illegally modified and was not overloaded on its final flight, one of its owners said.

The Washington Post cited unnamed federal officials for a story in Saturday's editions as saying that the twin-engine Beechcraft Queen Air 65 had a door improperly removed and was 150 pounds over its maximum weight of 7,700 pounds when it took off from West Point Municipal Airport.

The Sept. 10 crash killed the pilot, 10 skydivers and a man on the ground in rural King and Queen County.

Stephan S. Rose of Newport News, co-owner of the plane, said Saturday that the Federal Aviation Administration did not ban removing the door from Beechcraft Queen Air 65 models until several days after the crash. Rose owned the plane with his wife, Rebecca P. Smith.

FAA spokeswoman Lorraine Carra said the agency issued an ``airworthiness directive'' after the crash that bans flying that model plane with an open door.

Rose also rejected the suggestion the plane was carrying more than its maximum take-off weight.

``That's ridiculous,'' He said. ``I know the people who were there. Those were my friends. ... I know the calculations; weight and balance is something everybody's extremely conscious of.''

Investigators also told The Washington Post that the flight manual for Rose's plane had been altered to make the Beechcraft Queen Air 65 appear to be a model 65A, which can fly safely with its door removed.

Rose said he had altered nothing in either the manuals or the appearance of the plane.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB