
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 23, 1994                   TAG: 9403230063
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WINCHESTER                                LENGTH: Short

PROBE FINDS PLANE ALMOST OUT OF FUEL

A preliminary investigation into the crash of Oliver North's campaign plane showed one fuel tank was empty, and only one gallon of fuel was in the other tank, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

The pilot, Bobby R. Venable, 39, of Front Royal was killed when the plane went down Friday near Winchester Regional Airport. Venable was North's pilot for more than two years. North, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, had gotten off the plane hours before. No one else was on board.

The twin-engine Swearinger Merlin IIA owned by Venable was chartered to fly North from Winchester to Richmond after a breakfast speaking engagement Friday morning near Winchester.

Investigators from the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration searched through the wreckage over the weekend, NTSB spokesman Michael Benson said Monday.

The cause of the crash will not be officially determined for another three weeks, Benson said.

- Associated Press

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB