ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996                TAG: 9603190095
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: RURAL RETREAT
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER

PILOT, 31, DIES ON APPROACH TO AIRPORT

A 31-year-old pilot died in a fiery crash early Monday when his twin-engine Piper Aztec clipped trees on an approach to Mountain Empire Airport and hit Interstate 81.

James Preston Harris of Saltville had been the airport's fixed-base operator - essentially, its manager - for about two years. The airport is funded by local governments in Wythe and Smyth counties.

Harris, who did most of the airport's charter work, had just flown several people from Charlotte, N.C., to Lonesome Pine Airport near Wise. He was returning to Mountain Empire Airport by himself when the accident happened.

An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board had not determined the cause of the accident Monday. But others gathering information on the accident, including Virginia State Police Sgt. D.M. Honaker and Bob Dix, chairman of the Mountain Empire Airport Commission, agreed that heavy fog had to be a factor.

``We're as anxious to find out as you all are what caused the crash, because I understand the guy was a super pilot,'' Honaker said.

``As far as we know, he didn't report any malfunction in the aircraft,'' Dix said. ``The fog had to be a contributor.''

Honaker said Harris had attempted one approach to the airport but ``for whatever reason'' had not landed. On his second approach, he struck the trees and went onto Interstate 81, where his airplane exploded and burned.

The northbound lane of Interstate 81 was closed from about 1 a.m., when the crash happened, until 7:45 a.m. Traffic was rerouted onto U.S. 11, parallel to the interstate.

The crash left a charred spot at Milepost 58 on the highway.

Dix said he and others walked the path of Harris' plane to try to reconstruct what happened. He said the plane hit some trees south of Interstate 81, about 1.7 miles from the runway, and lost a fiberglass segment from the tip of one wing.

Then the craft ran into a second group of trees. ``The whole airplane went through that set of trees,'' Dix said.

After that, the plane apparently turned over and crashed in the center of the northbound lanes.

``He was directly in line with the runway,'' Dix said. ``He was right on the money, but too low.''

Henderson Funeral Home in Saltville is handling arrangements.

LENGTH: Medium:   55 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  PAUL DELLINGER/Staff. Investigators examine the wreckage
          at Mountain Empire Airport in Groseclose. James Preston Harris, 31, 
          of Saltville died early Monday when his plane clipped trees on an 
          approach. Graphic: Map by staff.
KEYWORDS: FATALITY