Hide Article Text (OCR)
THE CRASH AS SEEN FROM A NEIGHBOR'S ROOFTOP Tk* .»«. - wplane are just visible in the brush beneath the phone line. . ! 8 wm# °f Char,°* Bice's sportresidence*. North (top of picture) is Kumar's Komer camera range on the left and right areCRASHbeen circling around. ‘ It sounded like the engine cut out. There was a big noise and a cloud of dust.” Thomas and other neighbors reported that what they believed to be the same plane had been seen dying low over the area on other occasions.“He’s done this three of four times on different days, like he was buzzing someone’s house ” alleged Sue Young. “He was just barelv above thetrees.” she said.Young and her neighbors said they had wanted to report the low Hying plane to the authorities but could not see any identif ication numbers on it.The plane that crashed Sunday did have identification numbers. They were 3 inches high, the minimum size, according to Federal Aviation Administration investigator Dick Nielsen.Another neighbor, who declined to identify himself, said what appeared to be the same plane had “buzzed” the area last Wednesday, on the previous weekend and the Thursday before that.‘ ‘He damn near clipped the trees, ” he said.ikoffK ^rassa, who owns a storage building on the other side of the road about 70 feet from the crash said he saw the plane come down about 20 feetShUigle Road ° e“‘ side of Southrn»HShama?iing he.’s aUve-” ^Grassa said. ‘ Weh . . °r cut out‘ stop, backfire andthen he went right into the tree/’t'ou^in't have picked a better spot,” La houses notmS that the plane didn’t hit anyh„Vt?erKSS.t waJ on.cf,utches with an injured foot,Dun trip ifmhL ndf11 and son AJvie rushed t0 help pull tree limbs away to rescue the pilot.LaGras*a rejTorted. ad unbucklin8 Alvieine SfdehiS *irifriend Pamela Bor-!L. d the Shingle Springs fire department.Af Were hlre real ^uick- They had to pull one of the wings apart to get to him,” LaGrassa saidWATERTHE OAK TREE rh»riA* , Democrat photos by Michael Raffetypow.,p0J^^ ground and k.p, him fr„m hi„i„8 aaddltlon to the Sh*ngle Springs firefighters on duty, others were called away from the chili cookoff at Burke Junction.A firefighter on the scene noted that the fabric-winged plane did not catch fire probably as a result ot the engine bending down instead of up and because the battery4 ‘popped out.’ ’thf P^ot, saying he had done some carpentry work for him several years ago.He called it (the plane) his puddle jumper. I guess he missed the puddle,” LaGrassa saidB^cehadSoVnedd “ W3S ab°Ut the f°Urth P'aneDiane Bruce said the Champion was one of two planes her husband owned. He also owns a Bonanza. He has owned the Champion about three to five months, she said, adding, “He thought he had it„ S|*P?an!Pi0J?,s a cIass of airplane referred to as ai Citabna, airbatic ’ spelled backwards. It is certified for restricted aerobatics, according to~ *- continued from A-1 rrNielsen.^tbe Cltabnal around to keep the batteries charged,” she said FBruce has been flying “off and on” about 25:years, she said.nit«k6Dlf he had told anythirjg about the accident, Diane Bruce said, “I don’t think he remembersCharles Bruce owns the Mother Lode salvage operator ^ *S 8 self*emP3°yed baekhoerii/,AVeS^!f2t0u Nle3sen said Bruce is in critical eon-wfifil .as not been abIe t0 interview him yet. Nielsen expects to talk to Bruce at the end of theFAA in an enginfe Wl11 be dismantled by theFAA in an effort to confirm reports of engine trou-^.tart aF^mhlnvest,gatlon ot the accldent wiU takeI
Newspaper Details
Placerville Mountain Democrat
Placerville, California, US
Wed, Jul 13, 1983
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 31 Jan 2022
Other Publications Near Placerville, California
Placerville Mountain Democrat
Placerville Mountain Democrat and Times
Mountain Democrat and Placerville Times
Mountain Democrat
Weekly Mountain Democrat
