TUPELO - Aberdeen resident John Lee Wilson and his two passengers
boarded a single-engine Bonanza aircraft in Hattiesburg on a clear Friday morning, Nov. 21, 2003, and took off toward Okolona.
Wilson,
an experienced pilot with more than 3,500 hours in the cockpit, was
returning from a football game the previous evening between the
University of Southern Mississippi and Texas Christian University. With
him were the 22-year-old son and 46-year-old sister of Hattiesburg
attorney and family friend Don Medley.
The first hour of the
flight passed without incident. But as he approached his business, Wren
Body Works, the 59-year-old pilot started flying dangerously low.
Employees
who witnessed the aircraft say Wilson buzzed the building, then flew
north and turned around to come back. He crossed over U.S. 45 and buzzed
the building again before clipping the top of some trees and losing
control of the plane.
It went into a tailspin and crashed in an
open area near the business, skidding some 100 feet before bursting into
flames. Wilson, George Medley and Sarah Andrews all died from massive
head trauma.
"The pilot's intentional low altitude maneuver and
buzzing result(ed) in collision with trees, uncontrolled descent, and
in-flight collision with terrain," according to the play-by-play
accident report published by the National Transportation Safety Board,
which also cited as a crash factor "the pilot's ostentatious display."
The
incident is one of 29 aircraft accidents - five of them fatal - that
have occurred in Northeast Mississippi, and one of 169 statewide, since
January 2002. Ten people died in those wrecks; 61 lost their lives
statewide.
These aren't unusual numbers. Aircraft accidents -
usually involving small, private planes - occur almost daily across the
nation. Smaller states like Delaware witnessed as little as two dozen in
the past decade, while larger ones like California have seen hundreds.
Human error usually is to blame, according to Tupelo Regional Airport Executive Director Josh Abramson.
"Flying
an aircraft is probably one of the safest means of transportation, with
the caveat that it's one of the most unforgiving for mistakes," said
Abramson, also a pilot. "If you don't put enough gas in car, you pull
over on the side of the road. If don't put enough in an airplane, you're
forced to land. Or if you don't pay attention to the weather, you're in
trouble."
The NTSB blamed human error on more than four of every
five Northeast Mississippi aircraft accidents whose causes have been
determined. Mechanical problems caused just four incidents. Four others,
including the July 8 crash near New Site that claimed three lives,
remain under investigation.
Northeast Mississippi has the
state's second-highest number of air-related accidents and
second-highest number of fatalities in the past decade, according to
NTSB data.
Ten people died in five of the 29 accidents.
The sprawling Delta region claims the most accidents with 39, but the third-most fatalities. Eight deaths out of five crashes.
Jackson's populous metro area saw the most fatalities. Thirteen people
died in six of its 25 aircraft accidents in the past decade.
The Gulf Coast had 21 accidents during the same time period. Two were fatal, and two people died.
NTSB Identification: MIA04FA023.
The docket is stored in the Docket Management System (DMS). Please contact Records Management Division
Accident occurred Friday, November 21, 2003 in Okolona, MS
Probable Cause Approval Date: 03/28/2006
Aircraft: Beech G35, registration: N4214D
Injuries: 3 Fatal.
The flight departed under visual flight rules and shortly after takeoff the pilot obtained his instrument flight rules (IFR) clearance to the destination airport. The flight continued and air traffic control (ATC) communications were transferred to several ATC facilities. The pilot cancelled his IFR clearance when the flight was near the destination airport and he proceeded to fly to his business location and was noted to be "buzzing." While flying low witnesses noted the airplane collided with the tops of trees, then either entered a "spin", or "spiraled" and impacted the ground. A postcrash fire consumed the cockpit, cabin, and section of the left wing. Flight control continuity was confirmed for roll, pitch, and yaw. Examination of the engine revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot's intentional low altitude maneuver and buzzing resulting in collision with trees, uncontrolled descent, and in-flight collision with terrain. A factor in the accident was the pilot's ostentatious display.
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