ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 12, 1996 TAG: 9604120076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHEYENNE, WYO.
SOURCE: JON SARCHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE 7-YEAR-OLD PILOT'S PLANE took off just after a thunderstorm hit, accompanied by rain, snow and winds gusting to 32 mph.
A 7-year-old girl who hoped to become the youngest person to fly cross-country was killed Thursday when her small plane nose-dived to the ground ``like a dart'' soon after taking off in driving rain and snow. Her father and her flight instructor also died.
Jessica Dubroff, who used a red booster seat and extenders so her legs could reach the control pedals, spoke to her mother by telephone even as she revved the engine on the runway.
Lisa Blair Hathaway said she heard no word of problems as the three began to take off and ended the communication.
``I beg people to let children fly if they want to fly,'' a teary-eyed Hathaway said before flying from Boston to Wyoming to claim her daughter's body. She had flown ahead to Massachusetts to await the arrival of Jessica and her ex-husband.
``Clearly I would want all my children to die in a state of joy, but not at age 7,'' Hathaway said.
Jessica, her father, Lloyd Dubroff, and flight instructor Joe Reid began their journey Wednesday morning in Half Moon Bay, Calif., and spent the night in Cheyenne. They planned to arrive Friday in Falmouth, Mass.
The Cessna 177B owned by Reid crashed about one mile north of the Cheyenne Municipal Airport, narrowly missing houses and cars. Its tail section came to a rest just 25 feet from one home's garage.
``I kept thinking, `Please! Please get some altitude!''' said Tom Johnson, a 15-year pilot who saw the plane fall. ``It just went right into the ground. I knew no one survived. It would have been impossible.''
Johnson said he spotted the plane shortly after takeoff and it appeared the pilot was trying to return to the airport. He said the plane never got higher than 400 feet.
``It stalled over my building, winged over and went straight into the ground like a dart,'' he said.
Hours after the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration said it would review rules that govern when a pilot can allow an unlicensed passenger to fly the plane.
Youngsters have to be at least 16 to solo at the controls of an airplane. But children of any age can fly alongside a licensed pilot, who may let them operate the controls if he feels it is safe.
Shortly before takeoff, Jessica told a reporter for Cheyenne television station KKTU that she thought about one thing when flying: crashing. But she said she did not worry about it.
Jessica lived with her mother, a 9-year-old brother, Joshua, and a 3-year-old sister, Jasmine, in Pescadero, about 40 miles south of San Francisco. Lloyd Dubroff lived with his second wife in San Mateo.
The children were schooled at home, learning to read, write and do arithmetic through such real-life activities as flying, riding horses and even helping rebuild a house.
On Tuesday, Lloyd Dubroff said he was inspired by another young girl's cross-country flight several years ago, and when Jessica expressed an interest in flying, he asked her if she would like to try such a flight. She agreed. ``I'm the culprit,'' Dubroff said.
After landing in Cheyenne late Wednesday, Jessica was excited. ``It's been a long day,'' she said. ``I enjoyed it. I can't wait until the next day. I can't wait to sleep. I had two hours of sleep last night.''
The plane took off at 8:25 a.m. - just minutes after a thunderstorm hit the area, accompanied by heavy rain, snow and winds gusting to 32 mph.
Surface visibility was about five miles, and the temperature was 38 degrees, ``right on the edge of icing being a problem,'' said Cheyenne Airport Manager Jerry Olson.
Olson said he did not know whether flight controllers had given the plane clearance to take off, but he said there are apparently no regulations that would have allowed them to keep the girl on the ground.
The 4-foot-2, brown-haired Jessica was so short she needed extenders on the plane's pedals to reach them.
The airplane was equipped with a double set of controls to allow Reid to take over in an emergency.
Reid took control of the airplane as it went over the Rockies, a challenge for even experienced pilots.
``Over the Sierra it was just perfect, until we got over to the Rockies and they were bumpy, kind of bumpy,'' Jessica told a San Francisco radio station Wednesday.
Police Chief John Powell was first on the scene. He said he couldn't tell who had been operating the plane. ``There was a last-minute attempt by the pilot not to hit houses,'' Powell said.
In Falmouth, where the family lived until several years ago, friends had been planning a celebration for Jessica's arrival.
``I had been prepared to go to the airport tomorrow afternoon to greet the plane, but now it's never going to land, is it?'' said Joan Burden, the owner of a health food store in Falmouth.
Several years ago, the Guinness Book of Records ceased recognizing the ``youngest pilot'' category for fear of encouraging unsafe flights.
Jessica had less than a month to set the unofficial record. In 1991, Daniel Shanklin, 7, of San Antonio flew from San Diego to Kill Devil Hills, N.C. He turned 8 the day after he completed the nine-day flight; Jessica would have turned 8 May 5.
``It kind of scares me, too, because it could have happened to me,'' said Daniel, now 12 and a seventh-grader at Holy Cross Catholic School in Overland Park, Kan.
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Seven-year-old Jessica Dubroff stands next to theby CNBairplane before taking off Wednesday from the Half Moon Bay, Calif.,
airport. 2. The wreckage of the airplane is loaded onto a trailer
Thursday in Cheyenne, Wyo. Jessica, her father, Lloyd Dubroff, and
flight instructor Joe Reid were killed when the plane crashed
shortly after takeoff. color. KEYWORDS: FATALITY