ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 4, 1997 TAG: 9701060063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE
SOURCE: Associated Press
A twin-engine plane took off and reached 150 feet before it crashed in a swampy, wooded area and burst into flames, a federal investigator said Friday.
All four people aboard were killed, said Butch Wilson of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Wilson said it could take six months to determine why the plane crashed moments after departing Chesapeake Municipal Airport at 7:45 p.m. Thursday.
Only the engines and parts of the tail and a wing were left intact, leaving investigators to sift mostly through ashes, Wilson said.
``Picture something between 120 and 140 miles per hour running through trees, with 200 gallons of highly volatile fuel: that's what you've got,'' said John Beaulieu, president of Horizon Aviation, which manages the airport for the city.
The Piper Aerostar 601P, built in 1976, was traveling from Farmingdale, N.Y., to DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, a small airfield in Atlanta, Wilson said.
It stopped in Chesapeake to refuel and drop off a passenger, a girl, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame. The girl's name was not released.
State police said the victims were two men and two women.
The coroner's office in Norfolk was awaiting dental records to confirm their identities.
Stephen Williams, a spokesman for Republic Airport in Farmingdale, said the aircraft is registered to Christopher Pavlides of Brooklyn, N.Y.
``The aircraft is based here, but we have no idea who was flying it,'' Williams said.
Beaulieu said the pilot was a man in his 50s from New York who had flown to the airport every month or two during the past four years. The pilot may have had relatives in the area, Beaulieu said.
Beaulieu described the pilot as highly professional and said the plane appeared to be maintained well.
Wilson said the plane crashed less than a mile northwest of the runway. The fire was out by the time rescue crews reached the scene.
Investigators had to wade through muck to get to the crash site, more than 500 yards from the nearest road. The airfield is just east of the Great Dismal Swamp, and the crash scene is at the edge of the swamp.
The bodies of the victims were removed from the wreckage Friday. Investigators will move the pieces of the plane to a hangar at the airport today.
Beaulieu said the sky was clear when the pilot landed about 7p.m. but that fog was rolling in as he was taking off. Wilson said he had not confirmed whether there was fog at takeoff.
Beaulieu said visibility was about 13/4 miles, considered safe for takeoff using instruments. He said the pilot took the unusual step of taking off downwind. Planes usually take off into the wind.
Wilson said the unusual takeoff probably was not a factor in the crash. The wind was 5 mph at the time, and no wind shear was reported, he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB