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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02 15 1990 Similarities Mark 2nd Plane Crash71 st YEAR -NO. 148 VERO BEACH ..0 INDIAN RIVER COUNTY FEBRUARY 15, 1990 iourinat 64 PAGES, 5 SECTIONS II9I6MLTAI• 250 SINGLE COPY • Similarities Mark 2nd Plane Crash By ADAIVI CHRZAN Press -Journal Staff Writer A single -engine plane that glided toward Sebastian Municipal Airport after its engine stalled Wednesday afternoon crash- landed about 100 feet from where two planes ended up after a midair collision 11 days ago. The plane's three occupants, all licensed pilots from Vero Beach and Pro-Flite students, escaped injury after their emergency landing about 5:15 p.m. along Roseland Road. Officials from the Federal Avi- ation Administration and the Na- tional Transportation Safety Board were expected to inspect the scene this morning. It was not known what caused the plane's engine to fail. Kostantinos Svolopoulos, a pas- senger on the flight, said the trio decided to land on the road after realizing the plane would not make Runway 13 at the Sebastian airport. The runway is the same strip of pavement two pilots were headed for when they collided Feb. 3. The three Pro-Flite students worked together to get the plane down safely and minimize damage. Please See CRASH/2A Press -Journal staff photo by Kelly Collins Firefighters spray fire-supression foam on the downed plane as the severed wing is inspected. Sebastian Wants FAA To Intercede By I ATRI(CYA DiLA LA Sebastian Bureau Chief Two ,air crashes within 11 days of planes attempt- ing to use the Sebastian Municipal Airport have city officials worried enough to ask the Federal Aviation Administration to look into conditions there. "There might be something wrong," said Vice Mayor Robert McCarthy. "Maybe the terrain has changed." And frightened residents of River's Edge subdivi- sion, which lies under the approach to Runway 13 and where two planes have come down in separate incidents, are demanding that something be done to protect them. "After the first crash, my little girl asked if there would be more accidents," said River's Edge resident Art Riegle of his 7-year-old daughter. "I said no, it was just a fluke.•So now what do I tell her?" Riegle said in the most recent crash the plane ended up where the subdivision's children catch their school bus. The latest accident occurred Wednesday afternoon when a Piper Warrior II, traveling from Savannah, Ga., to Vero Beach, tried to make an emergency landing on Runway 13. Unable to reach the runway, the pilot landed on Roseland Road and crashed onto the shoulder near the entrance to River's Edge. Please See FAA/2A I Crash From Pg. 1 A "It was teamwork," a shaken Svolopoulos said Wednesday night. "One of us watched the ground, one the instruments and one flew the plane." Pilot Christos Nodaras, on a training flight from Savannah, Ga., to Vero Beach, initially was to make the flight alone. But Nodaras asked roommates Svolopoulos and Panaglotis Voulgaris to fly with him, Svolopoulos said. The Piper Warrior II, the same model involved in the Feb. 3 colli- sion that killed one pilot and crit- ically injured another, was at 5,500 feet and three miles from the air- port when its engine failed, offi- cials said. The three navigated the plane over a group of power lines stretched across Roseland Road, then passed over two southbound cars before setting the plane down in front of the vehicles. Svolopou- los said there was no _northbound traffic at the time. The plane touched down in front of the River's Edge entrance and bounced several times as it veered off the road, according to Indian River County sheriff's Detective Larry Smetzer. A stop sign at the subdivision's entrance sheared off the plane's right wing, Smetzer said. The wing landed on the west shoulder of the road about 10 feet from the plane. The plane took out several yards of a wooden fence, rolled into a row of bushes and stopped about 15 feet short of Richard Leonhardt's house at 1 Sunset Drive. Leonhardt said he had arrived home 15 minutes earlier after spending three days in south Flor- ida. He said he was talking on the telephone and getting ready to shower when the commotion started. "I heard this tremendous crash and thought someone had hit my auto," said Leonhardt, still visibly shaken from the near -miss. "I heard voices, looked back and saw the activity. It's quite the scare." He said he called 911 and told them to "send everybody — I can smell gas, there could be a fire." Leonhardt, whose house sports a "For Sale" sign in the front yard, moved to River's Edge five years ago. Fourteen -year -old Jessica Fal- zone, an eyewitness to the Feb. 3 midair collision, said she saw the Pro-Flite plane coming in low and knew something was wrong. "It was down so low and then I heard a boom, boom, boom," said Falzone, who was in her kitchen at the time. "Ever since the last one, I look and think (each plane) is going to crash." Lines drawn between the three airplanes that have crashed in and around River Edge's this month create what one official Wednes- day called "The Bermuda Trian- gle:" Arlie and irginia Buck's 35 Sunset Drive house sits in that zone. "We lead charmed lives here in River's Edge," Arlie Buck said sar- castically as he looked at his still - intact roof. "It's amazing — two misses, no fire, no damage to the house." While his wife's concerns grow with each. crash, Buck said he's "getting used to it — kind of a con- ditioning." Smetzer, who also investigated the Feb. 3 crash, said the Pro-Flite plane bounced after pilot Nodaras made "a hard landing" to avoid power lines crossing over Roseland Road to the south. While the Sebastian Municipal Airport is uncontrolled, the Pro- Flite plane was on a traffic -con- trolled flight and in contact with a Miami flight tower, Smetzer said. In the Feb. 3 crash, both pilots were trying to land on Runway 13. NTSB investigators said Roger Cooper, a former member of the Sebastian Airport Advisory Board, clipped the tail of a plane flown by a Florida Institute of Technology student. Cooper, 62, remains in se- rious condition at Orlando Region- al Medical Center. Oddly enough, the student, 19- year-old Jeffrey Dimond, was from Savannah, Ga., the city the three Pro-Flite students flew out of Wednesday., One rescue unit and four fire trucks from North Indian River County Fire District responded to the scene, according to Jim Judge, with the county's emergency man- agement services. Judge said officials today will start removing soil contaminated when fuel leaked from the plane. The incident forced officials to close a small section of Roseland Road to rush-hour traffic. One lane was reopened by 7:30 p.m. But part of the severed wing jutted into the southbound lane and officials closed the lane until FAA and NTSB officials arrive this morning and diagram the wing's exact posi- tion. Investigators from those agen- cies were not available for com- ment late Wednesday night.