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Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 01:37:00 -0800 (PST)
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To: jeff.shankman@enron.com
Subject: The Salt Lake Tribune -- Veteran Was Behind Wheel in Lake Crash.htm
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This is the story. Our friend is Lisa Ellis, she's listed at the end of
the article.
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Veteran Was Behind Wheel in Lake Crash
Tuesday, January 16, 2001
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A part from an airplane that crashed in the Great Salt Lake on Sunday.
(Danny La/ The Salt Lake Tribune)
BY NESREEN KHASHAN
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
GREAT SALT LAKE -- Tooele Valley Airport weekend manager Gary Parks
heard the steady buzz of the KingAir Beech overhead.
It was 5:20 p.m. on Sunday when he recognized the unmistakable
sound of the twin-engine aircraft flying over the Great Salt Lake,
minutes before it spiraled into the icy waters below, killing all nine
people on board.
When the plane went down, snow was driving down hard, and there was
about a quarter-mile visibility around Tooele Valley, Parks said. While
he wondered if the plane might land at a different airport, having
unshakable confidence in John Cashman, the plane's veteran pilot, he
didn't think the worst.
"No, I didn't have a bad feeling," Parks said. "He was the best,
most competent pilot I'd ever seen in my life."
Today, federal investigators, including an official from the
National Transportation Safety Board, are expected to begin examining
the conditions that led to the crash. A barge hauling a crane is
scheduled to arrive around noon to recover the shattered remains of the
plane, which rests in about 5 feet of water 11 miles west and one mile
north of the Salt Lake Marina.
Preliminary reports indicate that the plane was flying under visual
flight regulations, or VFR, which require that minimum visibility and
weather standards be met, said Federal Aviation Administration
spokesman Michael Fergus from Seattle. But federal investigators said
there are no indications yet whether adverse weather played a role in
the crash. Investigators still don't know if the pilot used or switched
to flight instruments to navigate, which are most commonly used to
compensate for poor visibility.
The plane carrying Cashman and eight skydivers was returning from a
weekend of jumping in Mesquite, Nev. Two of the skydivers, husband and
wife, were the owners of Skydive Salt Lake, a Tooele-based company.
Keith Stewart, the company's only other full-time employee, said the
plane was used to make up to 23 jumps in Nevada from Friday through
Sunday.
Parks said he attempted to make radio contact with the plane
immediately after he heard its engines. Investigators said Cashman
never signaled for help, and Parks' efforts to reach the pilot were
fruitless, he said.
About five minutes later, the husband of one of the plane's
passengers arrived at the airport to pick up his wife. Parks said at
around 3:15 p.m. the man's wife had called her husband to say she was
boarding.
The 35-year-old plane didn't have a registered flight plan with the
FAA. That meant airport officials didn't know it was in the air when
Parks began calling around to see if the plane had landed at an
alternate location. So when airport officials began searching for the
aircraft about two hours after it disappeared, they examined several
hours of radar reports to determine the plane's location, said Tooele
County sheriff's Deputy Lt. Frank Park.
Search-and-rescue officials believe that the four women and five
men died instantly as the plane hit the water, fragmenting into pieces.
Flying in from the southwest, the plane was probably making a
180-degree turn into the Tooele airport runway when it went down,
airport officials say.
The first body was found at 1:30 a.m. Monday by the shores of the
marina. During the next several hours, all nine bodies were recovered.
Seven of the bodies were also found on the shore.
Through the rest of Monday morning, a crew of at least three dozen
on three boats concentrated on recovering personal effects from the
plane.
Brian Hall, one of the rescue workers who scoured the waters with
flashlights that pierced the darkness, said the hardest part was "not
knowing what you were going to find until you got there."
Recovery crews retrieved foam pads, helmets, parachutes and other
skydiving equipment.
Parks said he was struck more than once by the commonplace items --
like a single shoe floating in the water -- that were meticulously
plucked from the scene. Most backpacks, duffle bags and other luggage
that were floating were still zipped shut, but Parks recalled one large
blue suitcase that had burst open, scattering articles of clothing over
the water.
"I've been doing this for a lot of years and it never gets easy,"
Parks commented. "Unfortunately, any time you're involved with any
tragedy like this, there will always be reminders of its personal
nature."
Monday's crash comes exactly five years after a small plane crash
in Idaho in which six Utah businessmen and two pilots were killed.
_________
Tribune reporter Kevin Cantera contributed to this report.
email: nkhashan@sltrib.com
List of the Victims
-- Pilot, John T. Cashman, 41, Sandy
Mike C. Hurren, 51, Midvale
Gayle Hurren, 45, Midvale
Lisa K. Ellis, 34, Salt Lake City
Nathan B. Hall, 28, Salt Lake City
Denise Helen Stott, 26, Salt Lake City
Charles T. Wilson, 31, address unknown
Merriah M. Hutson, 25, Sandy
Jay D. Johnson, 24, address unknown
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, Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune All material found on Utah OnLine
is copyrighted The Salt Lake Tribune and associated news services. No
material may be reproduced or reused without explicit permission from The
Salt Lake Tribune.
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