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Charred land marks the spot where a single-engine plane crashed near Stafford Regional Airport late Wednesday night, killing all four men aboard.
A lone Virginia State Police officer stands along the wooded fence line near the site of a fatal plane crash at the Stafford Regional Airport. Authorities began searching for the plane around 12:45 a.m. yesterday. The wreckage was found at 9:11 a.m. about a quarter-mile from the runway.
A flag outside the main building at the Stafford Regional Airport was lowered to half-staff yesterday to honor the four men killed. |
By KEITH EPPS and BILL FREEHLING
It was a trip that Rick Potter had successfully made many times.
Potter, a local builder and an experienced pilot, regularly flew himself and friends to Winston-Salem, N.C., for sporting events at his alma mater, Wake Forest University.
But this time something went terribly wrong. A single-engine plane piloted by Potter and carrying three passengers crashed while attempting to land in dense fog at the Stafford Regional Airport late Wednesday, instantly killing all four men.
Potter, 49; Albert "Buck" Jacoby, 56; Graham Green III, 57; and Michael Gus Pappas, 46--all well-known area residents--died in the crash.
Potter was a builder from Spotsylvania County and owner of Potter Homes.
Jacoby was a lawyer with the Jacoby and Pantazis firm in Stafford. Pappas was a real-estate investor and owned Atlas Power Wash in Fredericksburg. Green, of Stafford, was a Realtor in Fredericksburg.
Police said the group left Shannon Airport in Spotsylvania about 4 p.m. Wednesday to attend the Wake Forest-Clemson basketball game. Potter was flying his Lancair LC-41 four-seater aircraft.
According to people who knew them, Green regularly accompanied Potter on his jaunts. Jacoby and Pappas agreed to join them sometime Wednesday afternoon.
Jacoby left a note on a counter at his home informing his wife, Elizabeth, of his last-minute plans.
Potter was a member of the Deacon Club, Wake Forest's athletic booster organization. Paul Kennedy, an employee with the university's athletic department, said employees picked up Potter and his guests and returned them to the airport for home games.
After enjoying an overtime Wake Forest victory, the group departed Winston-Salem for the return trip to Fredericksburg.
As the plane neared its Shannon Airport destination, Potter requested to land at the Stafford Regional Airport at 11:37 p.m., said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Paul Takemoto.
Potter apparently decided that Stafford was a safer option under the weather conditions. The Stafford airport is larger and has more updated equipment, officials said.
The plane was last seen on radar at about 11:40 p.m., state police 1st Sgt. Les Tyler said. Local authorities began looking for the plane at 12:45 a.m. yesterday after it didn't land.
The aircraft was found at 9:11 a.m., Tyler said, about a quarter-mile from the airport runway.
Tyler said it appeared that the pilot was trying to make an east-to-west landing when he aborted his initial attempt.
As he maneuvered his plane into position for another attempt, the plane struck some trees and crashed, Tyler said.
The cause of the crash had not been determined yesterday. It is under investigation by federal officials and a final determination might not be made for some time.
Cathy Riddle, a spokeswoman for Stafford County, said it was the first crash at the Stafford airport, which opened in December 2001.
"They were prominent people in this community," Riddle said. "Our condolences go out to the families."
Some of those family members gathered at the airport yesterday awaiting the results of the search. They were contacted in the wee hours of the morning with the news of the missing plane.
Reporters and photographers who steadily trickled into the airport were kept a good distance from the families and the crash site.
Stafford Sheriff Charles Jett said early yesterday that local authorities began searching as soon as they were contacted by the FAA.
They were unable to do an air search initially because of heavy fog, but between 40 and 50 people were involved in the ground search by 6:30 a.m.
The search was completed shortly after the fog lifted enough to allow a helicopter to join in.
The plane was registered to a Fredericksburg company, Homeowner Title L.L.C. Potter is the owner of the company.
The Lancair is a low-wing, high-performance, light aircraft with a good safety record. Since 2001, only one crash with the Lancair model Potter was flying has been reported to the National Transportation Safety Board.
That happened in October in California, where two pilots and a passenger died. The NTSB has not determined the cause of that crash.
Potter's aircraft was built in 2005, according to FAA records. According to Web sites, the base price of the plane is about $480,000. It can cruise at 270 miles per hour and has a 1,300 mile range.
Both Potter and Jacoby were licensed private pilots. According to FAA records, Potter most recently passed his pilot's medical exam in December 2005, and his pilot's license was scheduled to expire in December 2007.
His license authorized him to fly single-engine airplanes. He also had an instrument rating, which allowed him to fly in poor weather and when visibility was low. Jacoby held the same license and instrument rating as Potter.
To get his private pilot's license, Potter would have had to have at least 40 hours of flight time, including 20 hours with an instructor and 10 hours solo. It also would have required three hours of night flight, including 10 takeoffs and landings.
Potter had more than 300 hours of flight experience.
The instrument rating requires additional flight hours and training.
Robert Stanley, operations manager at Shannon Airport, said Potter was not in distress when he decided to change his plans and land at Stafford instead of Shannon. The FAA was notified of the change, Takemoto said.
Potter kept his plane at Shannon, but had landed at Stafford on other occasions.
Stanley said flying conditions were bad Wednesday night at Shannon, with low clouds and poor visibility.
Ray Wiseman, a retired United Airlines pilot who keeps a plane at Shannon, said Stafford Regional has an Instrument Landing System that makes it easier to land under poor weather conditions. He said it's common to divert there under such weather.
Stanley said that both Shannon and Stafford Regional airports are not staffed after dark, but the lights are on and planes still land. He said no planes landed after dark at Shannon on Wednesday.
Light fog was reported about 11 p.m. Wednesday at both Shannon and Stafford Regional, said Chris Strong, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Sterling.
The flag at Stafford Regional was lowered to half-staff yesterday to mourn the tragedy.
"It's a big loss for the community," said William Young, chairman of the Fredericksburg Chamber of Commerce. "All four will be sorely missed."
Robert Martin, Craig Schulin, Laura L. Hutchison and Becky Piedel contributed to this report.
To reach KEITH EPPS:
Email: kepps@freelancestar.com
