Two From Oregon Die in Crash of Small Plane in Ozarks

The Associated Press

PETTIGREW, Ark. (AP) - An investigator of a plane crash that took the lives of an Oregon man and his son said Monday that the man flew experimental planes for a living and was on his way to a Florida air show when the small craft crashed in northwest Arkansas.

William Benedict, 53, and Jeremy Benedict, 23, both of Beaverton, Ore., died in the accident Sunday in a heavy fog in the Ozark National Forest. Investigators said the plane lost a wing and crashed upside-down in a ravine in steep terrain.

At the site Monday, Douglas Wigington, an air safety inspector with the National Transportation Safety Board, said that William Benedict was flying the Vans RV-60 and that Benedict promoted the North Plains, Ore., company's line of aircraft, which are built from kits.

Investigators did not know Monday where the flight originated but believed the pilot was supposed to fly the demonstration plane in an airshow in Lakeland beginning Sunday.

Investigators also did not know what caused the crash. Wigington and an investigator with the Federal Aviation Administration planned to continue their site investigation Tuesday.

Sheriff Philip Morgan said the Benedicts were flying in a heavy fog in a portion of the forest that had recently been logged. The plane caught fire and was badly burned, he said.

Alvie Johnson, an assistant chief for the Pettigrew Fire Department, said it appeared the pilot was trying to get out of the thick clouds.

"The pilot was trying to get down out of the fog and there was zero visibility up there," he said. "He was circling and trying to find a place to land from the information I have." Bob Morison, who lives about 1,000 feet from the crash site, said he heard the plane sputtering as he was working in his yard.

"It sounded like he was hot-dogging around, but I realize now it was cutting out," Morison said. "I came in my house, and that's when I heard it hit the mountain. I said, 'Oh, my God,' and I called the neighbor."

Wayne Martin, a Pettigrew firefighter, reached the plane just before Morison and his wife, finding it engulfed in flames about 2 1/2 miles southeast of Pettigrew near a fire tower.

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-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), April 04, 2000