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Estero couple dies in crash of homemade plane
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An Estero husband and wife died after a homemade plane crashed in North Carolina on Thursday.
Mark J. Sobel, 56, and Joan Wilson, 56, both of 20270 Riverbrooke Run, were identified as the victims by Greene County (N.C.) Sheriff Lemmie Smith.
Sobel owned and founded Financial Risk Analysts LLC. He was an experienced pilot who even trained others to fly, according to a co-worker.
“He had a great passion for life,” said Robert Van Epps with Financial Risk Analysts. “He was a scuba diver, rode motorcycles and flew planes. He was a great leader, too. It’s a real tragedy.”
Emergency officials reported Sobel made a distress call after reporting ice on the wings. The plane disappeared from radar and lost radio contact, said Patty McQuillan, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.
The accident occurred about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, said Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta. The plane crashed in a farm field several hundred feet from a residential area near Snow Hill, located about 20 miles southwest of Greenville.
Sobel and his wife left Page Field in Fort Myers at 10:33 a.m. Thursday and were bound for Hartford-Brainard Airport in Hartford, Conn., according to a Web-based flight tracking service. Financial Risk Analysts has offices in Florida, Conneticut and North Carolina.
The FAA Web site indicates the plane was a Lancair IV-P, a homebuilt, amateur plane completed in 2003.
Smith said deputies found what appeared to be the end piece of a wing about a mile from the crash site.
At least two men witnessed the crash, a pair of farmworkers who were nearby when the plane went down.
“We heard a strange noise and an explosion, and I saw the tail end of the plane going to the ground,” James Williams said.
His co-worker, Julio Herrera, said, “By the time I turned, I just saw the plane hit the ground.”
The men said they ran toward the plane, which caught fire after it crashed. Herreria said he tried to call 911 but couldn’t get a signal with his cell phone, so he ran to get help.
Williams said that he saw a victim in the wreckage but was unable to tell much more.
“I just saw the brown, curly hair,” he said. “We couldn’t get close to them because the fire was so big and so hot.”
An unidentified caller did reach the 911 center at 1:15 p.m.
A number of neighbors heard a noise, but didn’t know what happened until rescue trucks appeared on the scene.
“I heard an explosion; it rocked the house and I saw smoke,” Douglas Moore said. The plane had crashed in the field behind his house.
Neighbor Nancy Scott said she thought a tractor had fallen over in the field.
Smith said Sobel and Wilson died on impact.
No one on the ground was injured and no property was damaged.
Cox News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Any similarity to another homebuilt that landed in the Gulf not long ago?
#1 Posted by wes on May 9, 2008 at 11:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
No names?
#2 Posted by MarthaSimons on May 9, 2008 at 3:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Here is the plane, for those who are interested.
www.lancair.com/Main/iv_ivp.html
#3 Posted by marcoislandgal on May 9, 2008 at 4:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good link. Looks sturdy. Kind of like my Toyota with wings. "Build it yourself" just doesn't sound right. Gives the impression of a dune buggy frame with hobby shop wings.
#4 Posted by Carpetbagger on May 9, 2008 at 6:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
They said they had ice on the wings...these planes do not come with anti icing systems, the builder must find or make such components. most times with the ice, one wing will stall first then the plane flips and spins out of control towards the ground. during the spin the G forces tear the plane apart. thats why they said they found part of a wing a mile away and they saw the tail section hit the ground after the plane hit and exploded. Its sad, a horrible way to go.
#5 Posted by sunburnt on May 9, 2008 at 7:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
sunburnt, very few small planes come with deicing heaters. The majority of the rest of your post is correct, except that when a wing stalls, the plane does not "flip". It rotates around the stalled wing, and comes down relatively slow. A stall at altitude is easy to recover from, but ice makes it difficult.
When ice is first detected, or controls start to get heavy, the corrective action is to change altitude. That doesn't always work.
#6 Posted by 676 on May 9, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Pilot error. Should have foreseen known or suspected icing conditions. Sometimes you don't get a second chance. Check your weather & gauges.
#7 Posted by cousinjed on May 9, 2008 at 7:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The John Denver experience.
#8 Posted by swampbuggy on May 9, 2008 at 8:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Do ya'll work for the NTSB...or do you like the armchair quaterback postion? jheeeeze puhleeeze.
#9 Posted by JunkYardDog on May 10, 2008 at 7:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My condolences to the friends and family.
#10 Posted by wonderwoman on May 10, 2008 at 8:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This was not a homebuilt. Please note that it is an experimental type. It was professionally built for these customers. The Lancair IV-P kills many people. It is a very fast 4 seater. It is a turbine (Jet).
It would be interesting for the Naples News to research the number of crashes fo Lancairs vs the number actually approved by the FAA to fly. How many crashed and how many have died.
#11 Posted by turbinepapa on May 10, 2008 at 8:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Cause: Pilot inexperience?
Check the weather the day of the accident
then
Draw a line along the FMY - HFD route.
Weather fronts were clashing over the Carolinas
Big build ups/icing conditions all along the front.
Wrong altitude with super cooled drops makes for a bad day in the air.
Poor conditions for a little plane vs. Mother Nature's germlins.
#12 Posted by bicoastal on May 10, 2008 at 9:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Do you all drive by car crashes with fatalities and stand there making derogatory comments. That is what you are doing right now! Unless you have something positive to say to the greiving family then shut -up!
#13 Posted by fedupinnaples on May 10, 2008 at 10:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Turbinepapa, it couldn't have been professionally built, 51% rule and all.
#14 Posted by nap68 on May 10, 2008 at 11:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Don't let facts cloud a story for hecks sake. Turn to page 15 in the songbook and let's sing kumbaya. We all feel bad that people were killed.
#15 Posted by cousinjed on May 10, 2008 at 12:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's hard to drive standing.
#16 Posted by Carpetbagger on May 10, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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