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Two San Diego men killed in Willcox plane crash identified
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| Two people were killed when this Thorp t-18 experimental aircraft crashed after attempting to land at Cochise County Airport in Willcox. (Dave Brown/Arizona Range News) |
By Ainslee S. Wittig/Arizona Range News
An experimental home-built aircraft crashed killing two people at the Cochise County Airport in Willcox Thursday morning at about 9:20 a.m.
Airport manager Louise Walden said the Thorp T-18 two-seater plane was not registered.
The victims have been identified as Glen Slagoske, 47 and Shawn Muscat, 27, both of San Diego, according to the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
It was unclear Thursday which of the two was piloting the Thorp T-18 two-seater plane when it spun out of control after what witnesses described as an aborted landing attempt.
Sheriff's office personnel responding to the scene said that both occupants were deceased, suffering from significant trauma, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
Both bodies were removed from the wreckage and transported by Westlawn Mortuary to the Medical Examiners Office for the completion of an autopsy. The subjects had identification indicating that they were from out of state, both males, one 27 years old and one 47 years old, Capas said. The Law Enforcement agency in that out of state jurisdiction was notified and requested to attempt contact with next of kin.
Phil LeRoy, a local flight instructor, was in line to land after the plane, and said it looked as if the pilot came in too high and too fast to touch down, and he turned around to do it again. On the pilot's second run he was also going really fast and "banked at too high of an angle and pulled too many g's (gravitational pull) and he lost lift. It's called a stall, although it has nothing to do with the engine, and the plane spiraled twice and went down. Hearing the pilot screaming to his death over the radio was horrible."
"It was a text-book accident. As far as accidents go, it is very common," LeRoy said. "After we saw the accident, I took control of the plane to land it. I had my student radio Louise (Walden) at the airport and call 911."
Bonnie Reid, who lives on Quail Road, said she saw it's wings "rocking back and forth - wobbling, like a kid pretending to fly" and heard the plane buzzing in intermittent short bursts as it "nose-dived straight down."
Reid said she could not see it land, so it likely spiraled after she lost sight of it.
Jim Walden, airport manager, said, "The plane didn't burn, it just crumpled. You can tell it hit very hard."
Commander AV Reid of Willcox Rural Fire said he was not immediately called out, as the 911 call went to the city, and the city fire department was on-scene when he arrived.
"The response time was really fast (for city fire, police and sheriff's deputies)," said Jim Walden.
"There were about 12 police and sheriff's vehicles here. The response time was great," Louise added.
Both Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will be on scene to investigate the crash this afternoon.
Capas said the sheriff's office will "parallel the investigation", with the FAA completing the aircraft accident report and the Sheriff's Office completing the accidental death report.
While the airport has had its share of accidents over the years, this was the first fatal incident that Louise Walden could recall.
"My husband, Jim, and I have been managing the airport here for almost 20 years now, and this is the first fatality we've ever had," she said.
This incident remains under investigation.
(Derek Jordan of the Sierra Vista Herald contributed to this article.)
Airport manager Louise Walden said the Thorp T-18 two-seater plane was not registered.
The victims have been identified as Glen Slagoske, 47 and Shawn Muscat, 27, both of San Diego, according to the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
It was unclear Thursday which of the two was piloting the Thorp T-18 two-seater plane when it spun out of control after what witnesses described as an aborted landing attempt.
Sheriff's office personnel responding to the scene said that both occupants were deceased, suffering from significant trauma, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
Both bodies were removed from the wreckage and transported by Westlawn Mortuary to the Medical Examiners Office for the completion of an autopsy. The subjects had identification indicating that they were from out of state, both males, one 27 years old and one 47 years old, Capas said. The Law Enforcement agency in that out of state jurisdiction was notified and requested to attempt contact with next of kin.
Phil LeRoy, a local flight instructor, was in line to land after the plane, and said it looked as if the pilot came in too high and too fast to touch down, and he turned around to do it again. On the pilot's second run he was also going really fast and "banked at too high of an angle and pulled too many g's (gravitational pull) and he lost lift. It's called a stall, although it has nothing to do with the engine, and the plane spiraled twice and went down. Hearing the pilot screaming to his death over the radio was horrible."
"It was a text-book accident. As far as accidents go, it is very common," LeRoy said. "After we saw the accident, I took control of the plane to land it. I had my student radio Louise (Walden) at the airport and call 911."
Bonnie Reid, who lives on Quail Road, said she saw it's wings "rocking back and forth - wobbling, like a kid pretending to fly" and heard the plane buzzing in intermittent short bursts as it "nose-dived straight down."
Reid said she could not see it land, so it likely spiraled after she lost sight of it.
Jim Walden, airport manager, said, "The plane didn't burn, it just crumpled. You can tell it hit very hard."
Commander AV Reid of Willcox Rural Fire said he was not immediately called out, as the 911 call went to the city, and the city fire department was on-scene when he arrived.
"The response time was really fast (for city fire, police and sheriff's deputies)," said Jim Walden.
"There were about 12 police and sheriff's vehicles here. The response time was great," Louise added.
Both Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will be on scene to investigate the crash this afternoon.
Capas said the sheriff's office will "parallel the investigation", with the FAA completing the aircraft accident report and the Sheriff's Office completing the accidental death report.
While the airport has had its share of accidents over the years, this was the first fatal incident that Louise Walden could recall.
"My husband, Jim, and I have been managing the airport here for almost 20 years now, and this is the first fatality we've ever had," she said.
This incident remains under investigation.
(Derek Jordan of the Sierra Vista Herald contributed to this article.)
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