Authorities cordon off the wreckage of a single-engine Beechcraft Musketeer 23 that crashed yesterday morning in King George County, killing its pilot and two passengers. The plane dove into the yard of the pilot's friend and Dahlgren colleague. rez View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Plane crash kills 3

Three Spotsylvania residents, including young brother and sister, die in King George County plane crash.

By KARI PUGH
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 5/20/2002

• See video from the scene

Benjamin C. Butler had just buzzed over a friend's King George County home yesterday when he lost control of his airplane and crashed into his buddy's front yard, killing himself and two young neighbors he'd taken up for a ride.

Butler, 45, and passenger Jessica Fuller Dietz, 24, died instantly in the 10:20 a.m. crash, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.

Rescue workers thought Dietz's little brother, 10-year-old Zachery D. Fuller, had a chance when they pulled him from the wreckage, but he died moments later, said King George fire and rescue Chief Roy Fenwick.

"We knew the other two were gone, there was nothing we could do for them," Fenwick said. "But we were hoping we could save the boy."

Zack and his sister were friends of Butler, who lived on Auburn Lane off Mine Road in Spotsylvania County, Geller said.

Dietz, an Army soldier stationed in Germany, was home for a visit when Butler offered to take her and her little brother out for a pleasure ride in his 1962 Beechcraft Musketeer 23.

The trio left from Spotsylvania's Shannon Airport yesterday morning and headed for King George.

"He flew over and did a wing wave, like he always does," said friend and co-worker Chuck Gusha. "He'd just come over the trees and suddenly lost altitude. He was in the wind, trying to pull it up. But the plane came down incredibly fast."

As Gusha stood in his front yard and watched, the aircraft nose-dived into a stand of trees on his property along Pleasant Drive in Weedon's Fork, a rural community 25 miles east of Fredericksburg. The neighborhood is located a few miles east of State Route 3 near the Westmoreland County line.

Geller said other witnesses reported hearing the aircraft's engine become "very loud," then the plane plummeted from the sky.

No one on the ground was injured.

Butler retired from the Navy in the 1990s and had worked for Gray Hawk Systems Inc. in Dahlgren for two years.

He lived in Lee's Hill with his wife, Susan.

State police said Butler had been a pilot since 1998, when he bought the single-engine Beechcraft.

"He was a super pilot, a very safe pilot," said Gusha, who worked with Butler at the defense contracting company. "I can't imagine what happened."

Since Butler had taken his Beechcraft out for a pleasure cruise, he did not have to file a flight plan, Geller said.

Friends at Shannon Airport said Butler was known as a safe pilot who volunteered his time with the Young Eagles, a program for children interesting in learning about flying.

"Whenever he was out just flying around, he'd come over the house and do us a little wing wave," said Gusha, who had flown with Butler several times. "The kids would come running outside and wave back. Ben was just a great guy. I can't believe this happened."

The Virginia State Police, National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating what caused the crash.

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Date published: 5/20/2002