2 Killed, 2 Injured In Airpark Crash
POSTED: Saturday, March 1, 2008
UPDATED: 2:49 pm EST March 1,
2008
TITUSVILLE, Fla. -- Two people were killed and two others seriously injured when two planes collided Saturday at Arthur Dunn Airpark in Titusville, officials said.
PHOTOS: Viewer Photos Of Collision
The incident was reported at 8:32 a.m., Scott Gaenicke, public information officer and division chief for Titusville Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said.A short time later, emergency responders found two airplanes off the runway, both on fire, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.Two people, names, age and sex unknown, were rescued from one aircraft and were flown to Orlando Regional Medical Center. Both had severe burns, Gaenicke said.Two occupants of a second plane, also unidentified, were killed and were believed to have died upon impact, Gaenicke said.The local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association was hosting its monthly pancake breakfast at the airpark Saturday, and the planes were believed to have been at the airport for that event.Gaenicke said the first plane that contained the two people who were killed was on the ground; the second plane was circling and was attemtping to land and collided with the other plane.Both planes were home built aircraft.The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are en route to investigate.Witness Michael Dunaway of Titusville, who helps out at the Skydive Space Center on weekends said it appeared that one plane was trying to land on the taxiway. The plane that was on the ground was on the taxiway.Dunaway didn't see the crash, but saw a big ball of flames.Dunaway descibed Arthur Dunn as a small airpark, and said most of the activity there came from the Skydive Space Center.Witness Stan Williams, 70, of Spruce Creek, was the pilot of a plane sitting behind the plane that was hit on the ground, said he was on the taxiway and had stopped, waiting for other airplanes to clear.He said he heard a loud noise and saw a plane come across and cut the plane in front of him in two. "It was like an explosion went off."The plane in front of him was in his Spruce Creek Fly-in group. He's not sure where the plane that was landing was from.There is one paved runway and one turf runway, and the airpark is located on 130 acres of the city's north side. It's home to tenants including the Experimental Aircraft Association and Skydive Space Center.Runway 15-33 is paved and stretches 3,000 feet; Runway 4-22 is turf and extends 2,000 feet for smaller, lighter aircraft that don't require a long runway.Between 30,000 and 40,000 operations -- airport lingo for takeoffs and landings -- are recorded annually at Arthur Dunn, which became a county airpark during the late 1920s after its birth as an emergency landing field for the U.S. Air Mail Service in 1925.Formerly a site for Navy pilot training, the airpark is named for a former county commissioner who supported expansion in the facility's early days.The Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority has owned and operated the airpark, open to single-engine and small twin-engine aircraft, since 1970.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
PHOTOS: Viewer Photos Of Collision The incident was reported at 8:32 a.m., Scott Gaenicke, public information officer and division chief for Titusville Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said.A short time later, emergency responders found two airplanes off the runway, both on fire, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.Two people, names, age and sex unknown, were rescued from one aircraft and were flown to Orlando Regional Medical Center. Both had severe burns, Gaenicke said.Two occupants of a second plane, also unidentified, were killed and were believed to have died upon impact, Gaenicke said.The local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association was hosting its monthly pancake breakfast at the airpark Saturday, and the planes were believed to have been at the airport for that event.Gaenicke said the first plane that contained the two people who were killed was on the ground; the second plane was circling and was attemtping to land and collided with the other plane.Both planes were home built aircraft.The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are en route to investigate.Witness Michael Dunaway of Titusville, who helps out at the Skydive Space Center on weekends said it appeared that one plane was trying to land on the taxiway. The plane that was on the ground was on the taxiway.Dunaway didn't see the crash, but saw a big ball of flames.Dunaway descibed Arthur Dunn as a small airpark, and said most of the activity there came from the Skydive Space Center.Witness Stan Williams, 70, of Spruce Creek, was the pilot of a plane sitting behind the plane that was hit on the ground, said he was on the taxiway and had stopped, waiting for other airplanes to clear.He said he heard a loud noise and saw a plane come across and cut the plane in front of him in two. "It was like an explosion went off."The plane in front of him was in his Spruce Creek Fly-in group. He's not sure where the plane that was landing was from.There is one paved runway and one turf runway, and the airpark is located on 130 acres of the city's north side. It's home to tenants including the Experimental Aircraft Association and Skydive Space Center.Runway 15-33 is paved and stretches 3,000 feet; Runway 4-22 is turf and extends 2,000 feet for smaller, lighter aircraft that don't require a long runway.Between 30,000 and 40,000 operations -- airport lingo for takeoffs and landings -- are recorded annually at Arthur Dunn, which became a county airpark during the late 1920s after its birth as an emergency landing field for the U.S. Air Mail Service in 1925.Formerly a site for Navy pilot training, the airpark is named for a former county commissioner who supported expansion in the facility's early days.The Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority has owned and operated the airpark, open to single-engine and small twin-engine aircraft, since 1970.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
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