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WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 1977inantliteFear ColeLost ControlOf His Plane1KALAMAZOO (UPI) - Pilot error, possibly brought on by vertigo, may have been the A cause of Monday’s plane crash ?°y that killed retired General!,nf Motors Corp. President Edward ?en N. Cole, investigators say. by The wreckage of Cole’s twin-engine Beagle was removed Tuesday from the crash site a northeast of Mendon to the igh Kalamazoo Municipal Airportox where it will undergo a 1, thorough probe by investigators yn- from the Federal Aviation Administration and National ias Transportation Safety Boardre. (NTSB).ail- However, investigators said a ;en preliminary investigation led lt;r them to believe Cole, 67, may have been the victim of vertigo, i’s or disorientation in the clouds.causing him to lose control of i™ his plane.at “Nothing has arisen so far in ns' the wreckage examination to )rs make us question the aircraft,” |Vd said Jack Harrington, an NTSB investigator from Chicago.‘‘The plane was all in oneus- piece when it hit the ground,” he said. “There was no in-flight ™.’s separation.”•*t. Trooper Larry Hovarter of the State Police Post at White Piegon, who co-ordinated the investigation, said he agreed.1 11 “By the process of elimination, my investigation points to pilot error,” Horvater said Tuesday.Cole was en route from the Oakland-Pontiac Airport to Kalamazoo Monday morning He had planned to report to his office at Checker Motors Corp in Kalamazoo, of which he was board chairman.Witnesses at Mendon. a smalltown near Kalamazoo n southwest Michigan, said they saw the plane circling a freshly plowed field several tiirrs before it dived straight into the ground. Cole, who was alone in the plane, was killed on impact.Cole, an experienced pilot with more than 3,000 hours of flying time, had been cleared for a normal landing appoach during a light rain and fog. with a 300-mile ceiling and one-mile visibility.The last tower tape at the Kalamazoo Municipal Airpo: t was recorded just 10 seconds before the crash. Cole told flight controllers he was “going to go around a little bit here,” and when questioned, said thathe was in a pretty heavy rain.Cole retired from GM in 1974and became president ofInternational Husky Corp., anair freight firm.Funeral services for Cole willbe held at 11 a.m. Thursday in*the chapel of St. Francis Home for Bovs in Detroit.an-
Newspaper Details
Holland Sentinel
Holland, Michigan, US
Wed, May 04, 1977
Page 6
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