Monday Octover 27, 2008

The fatal plane crash investigation continues in Albemarle County. The plane went down in the woods of southern Albemarle County near Red Hill road on Friday night.

CBS19 talked to the NTSB and they say the wreckage will be removed on Tuesday and it will be taken to a secure salvage facility in Atlanta, Georgia. Their initial report is also expected to be released in the next 10 days.

Police say 47-year-old Thomas John Mahoney was the pilot of the plane. His passenger was identified as 50-year-old Elizabeth Marie Paris.

Officials say there were several mayday calls before the plane finally disappeared from radar.

Mahoney's flight instructor say's she's known Mahoney for years and says he's always been a safe and cautious pilot.

“He was always a meticulous careful pilot and would thoroughly do a whole preflight including checking the air pressure and tire pressure. I remember one time one of the main tires was about a pound low and he was asking where he could get some air and I said Tom I assure you the air plane will be fine with just one pound low, “ said Carolyn Ridley, Mahoney’s Flight Instructor.

Paris and Mahoney were married and lived in Orange County.
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Saturday October 25, 2008

Virginia State Police Sunday identified two Orange County, Va. residents as the the victims in Friday night's plane crash in Albemarle County.

The two victims were identified as 47-year-old Thomas John Mahoney, and 50-year-old Elizabeth Marie Paris, both of the 800 block of Bootons Lane in Orange, Va.

Mahoney was the pilot and owner of the Piper PA24-260 plane.

Mahoney's sister confirmed to CBS19 that the two were in fact married.

The plane, which was coming from Asheville, North Carolina, made three mayday calls before disappearing from radar at 7:20 p.m., according to state police. They say Albemarle County police were contacted by air traffic control in Lynchburg and the State Police Appomattox Division was contacted by officials at CHO. They also got a call from a resident near Route 20 who had witnessed a flash of light and a loud crash in the woods.

Dozens of units gathered at an impromptu crisis command center set up at Walton Middle School, where they poured over maps and kept tabs on the search, both by air and by ground.

After a widespread search that lasted for several hours, workers with the Virginia Department of Forestry cleared a path that allowed rescue crews to locate the wreckage at around 9:30 Friday night.

Authorities have had trouble getting to the crash site because of the rain and mud.

Sgt. Lisa Roakes of the Virginia State Police said, "It’s a hunting path that we had to go on. And it is nothing but mud, rocks and it is very treacherous for vehicles. We had to walk in about 500 feet before we found the plane crash. The neighbors last night heard it go down and it sounded to them like a big oak tree crashing."

Loryl Cathcart was walking her dogs with her son when she heard what she thought was thunder.

"We heard what we thought was the storm rolling in. We heard a really loud bang and we assumed it was thunder coming. So we decided to cut our walk short and come up to the house. And I just didn't think anymore of it," said Cathcart.

Investigators were able to confirm they found the bodies of a male and a female near the wreckage. State police, the FAA and the NTSB are all in on the investigation into what caused the crash.