Wreckage Found By Victim's Sons
After a search that
spanned nearly a week, and involved hundreds of Civil Air Patrol
volunteers, it was the sons of missing pilot David K. Weiss who
found the wreckage of the lost Cessna 172... as well as their
father's body... this weekend in a sparsely populated area of
Franklin County, PA.
"We found the wreckage of the aircraft with no survivor," said
Lt. Col. Robert Ayers of the Civil Air Patrol.
The Herald-Mail reports Steve and Mark Weiss found the accident
scene Sunday afternoon during a ground search. The wreckage was
located on a wooded mountain slope under dense foliage that had
obstructed rescuers' views from the air, authorities said.
An autopsy will be conducted on Weiss's body Monday afternoon,
and the NTSB has sent an investigative team to the accident site to
determine the as-yet-unknown cause of the accident.
"I can tell you from the family that Mr. Weiss had no medical
problems," Franklin County Coroner Jeffrey R. Conner said during a
press conference Sunday night.
As Aero-News reported last
week, David Weiss took off April 25 from Gaithersburg
Airport in Maryland, on what was described as a routine proficiency
flight. The 72-year-old man later landed at Frederick
Municipal Airport, before departing back to Gaithersburg.
Based on the routing of calls to Weiss's cell phone, search
crews had focused their search on an area between a cell tower near
Saint Thomas, PA and an airport in Chambersburg, PA that
authorities believed Weiss may have been attempting to reach.
** Report created 5/1/2006 Record 2
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 7604G
Make/Model: C172 Description: 172,
P172, R172, Skyhawk, Hawk XP, Cutla
Date: 04/25/2006 Time: 0000
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury:
Fatal Mid Air: N Missing:
N
Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
City: MERCERSBURG State: PA Country:
US
DESCRIPTION
ACFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES IN A HEAVILY WOODED
AREA, THE ONE
PERSON ON BOARD WAS FATALLY INJURED, THE SUBJECT OF AN ALERT
NOTICE, IT WAS
LOCATED NEAR SHIMSTOWN ROAD, FRANKLIN COUNTY, MERCERSBURG,
PA
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 1
# Crew: 1 Fat:
1 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: NOT REPORTED
OTHER DATA
Departed: GAITHERSBURG,
MD
Dep Date: Dep.
Time:
Destination: FREDERICK,
MD
Flt Plan: VFR
Wx Briefing:
Last Radio Cont:
Last Clearance:
FAA FSDO: HARRISBURG, PA
(EA13)
Entry date: 05/01/2006