Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 30, 1993 TAG: 9308300146
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press and staff reports
DATELINE: SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
Pilot John Holmgren, 52, and passengers Larry Conner, 53, and Ida Jane Conner, 52, all of Roanoke, walked away from the wreckage and were treated by paramedics at the scene, authorities said. Holmgren briefly checked into a hospital for a cut over his eye, but the Conners did not require hospitalization.
No one on the ground was injured, authorities said.
"They were very fortunate," said state police Trooper Jess Gundy in South Charleston. "It was a pretty bad plane crash, with major damage to the plane."
Holmgren told authorities he was flying at about 25,000 feet and radioed for help when the twin-engined Mitsubishi lost power about 4 p.m., Gundy said.
Holmgren, who was en route to Roanoke from Rochester, Minn., on a business trip, was instructed to "basically glide into Mallory and make a crash landing," Gundy said.
The plane - unable to stop as it landed - ran off the runway and hit some trees, said Bill White, coordinator for the Kanawha County Fire Department.
"Anytime you put one down with no power, you are lucky to be alive," Holmgren said.
He called his wife, Jane, in Roanoke immediately after the crash.
"It was one of those phone calls every pilot's wife . . . you learn to live with it and accept that it could happen," Jane Holmgren said Sunday evening.
Holmgren told her: "I just wanted you to hear my voice and know that I'm OK," and then proceeded to tell her the plane was totaled. Jane Holmgren said a friend of theirs was killed in a plane crash two years ago, and they learned about it on the nightly news. Her husband didn't want that to happen.
"He's still pretty shook up, but he just still feels so very fortunate that he was able to get it on the runway. That's the only reason they're alive."
She credited her husband's "cool head" and 30 years' experience as a commercial pilot for avoiding a disaster. "And to be over West Virginia, which is the worst, topographic-wise," she said.
Holmgren has been a pilot for the Conners, who own the plane along with two other parties, for several years.
Larry Conner said he prayed as the plane flew over Interstate 64 while attempting to land.
"I'd just like to say that we give all the praise to the Lord," he said. "We believe he took care of us."
Don Baker, who was working on his plane at the airport, said he heard a strange noise as the plane made its approach.
"When I watched it, it looked like a disastrous event," he said.
The airport's 1,900-foot runway is about half as long as Holmgren would safely have needed to land the plane, said airport owner Mike Mallory.
"It served its purpose as a crash site for him," Mallory said.
Investigators had yet to determine the cause of the crash, Gundy said.
by CNB