THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140384
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SHACKLEFORDS LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Cleanup operations began Wednesday at the site where a plane crashed, killing all 11 on board and a man who was sitting on his back porch.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have recovered the pieces of the wreckage needed to complete a report on Sunday's crash, said Mike Benson, an NTSB spokesman.
The recovered parts included both engines of the Beechcraft Queen Air BE-65 that was leased by the Peninsula Skydivers club and a helmet-mounted video camera worn by one of the skydiver victims.
Authorities believe one of the engines on the plane stalled a few minutes after takeoff from West Point Airport.
The recording in the camera, discovered Tuesday in the debris, provided sound that backed up accounts of witnesses who said the plane appeared to have an engine problem.
It crashed minutes later into a house about 1 1/2 miles east of the airport.
Benson said the plane's engines would be dismantled under NTSB supervision and closely inspected, and the recording would be taken to a laboratory to enhance the sound.
The recording, described by Benson as ``serviceable up to a point,'' was singed by the intense fire that followed the crash.
Investigators ``think they're hearing the engine cutting out'' on the tape, he said.
``We were pretty lucky to get what was found here, considering the amount of damage,'' Benson said.
The only visible pictures were recorded before takeoff, he said.
The NTSB report on the crash is expected to be completed in six months. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Investigators inspect the two engines of the plane that crashed
Sunday in Shacklefords.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE by CNB