Investigators at scene of plane crash

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July 2, 2012

Investigators at scene of plane crash

Misty Watson mistywatson@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Mon Jul 02, 2012, 10:25 PM EDT

To airport employee Andrew Wiersma, it seemed like a routine takeoff.

“There were no indications of any problems,” said Wiersma, the FBO manager for Crystal Air at the Dalton Municipal Airport, on Sunday. “The engines sounded normal.”

But a few minutes later, less than a mile from the airport, Donald Lee Holbrook’s plane went down into a field and burst into flames, according to officials. Holbrook, 52, of Chattanooga, Tenn., was found dead in the wreckage. He was the only person on board.

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were on the scene Sunday afternoon. The scene, through a wooded area between Sane and Airport roads in southern Whitfield County, was closed to the public and the media.

An FAA spokeswoman referred questions to the NTSB. Calls to the NTSB Office of Public Affairs were not answered Sunday afternoon.

Holbrook was flying a Piper PA 31, Pressurized Twin Engine Navajo, which he had kept at the Dalton airport for the last “year to a year and a half,” Wiersma said.

“I talked to him many times,” he said. “He was a real good guy.”

Wiersma said Holbrook drove out the runway, radioed he was taking off and Wiersma never heard from him again.

“He never called me on the radio with a distress signal,” he said. “Our mail lady came in maybe 10 to 15 minutes after he left and said there was a big plume of smoke. I stepped out and saw it, but I didn’t think it was an airplane crash.”

Holbrook took off heading south, and it appeared as though he had tried to turn around and land on the same runway he took off from, Wiersma said.

“It wasn’t a nose dive,” he said. The plane came straight down and exploded on impact, he said.

“He crashed near a pond,” Wiersma said. “He may have been trying to put it in the water. You don’t want to crash through trees.”

Witnesses said the plane was flying low over the Magnolia Grove subdivision, barely clearing trees and power lines. They reported that the plane seemed to try to turn as it approached Sane Road but hit the ground.

“I was pretty stunned,” Wiersma said of learning about the plane crash. “It is so sudden. It could be a normal takeoff. You’re not expecting anything, then five minutes later you’re crashing to the ground. It does happen on occasion. You hate it when it does.”

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