THREE BODIES RECOVERED FROM ROSEVILLE PLANE CRASH SITE

By Brigid Gaffikin, Bay City News Service

February 13, 2006

Authorities have recovered a total of three bodies from the Roseville home that burned to the ground after a small plane crashed into it Sunday, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allan Kenitzer.

Two of the bodies "were associated with the airplane" and a third was not, Roseville police spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther said.

An 18-year-old man reported to be in the house at the time of the crash has still not been found, Gunther said. Kenitzer said Roseville firefighters helped FAA investigators today in removing the wreckage of the plane from the house with a cherry picker.

"Once the plane is extracted they remove the bodies and they usually take the airplane someplace, a nearby airport or hangar, where they do their investigation," he said.

Earlier today, FAA spokesman Mike Fergus reported that the registered owner of the small Glasair 2 plane that crashed into the home was Patrick O'Brien.

The plane crashed into the two-story home at 1302 Longfellow Circle shortly before 11:30 a.m. after taking off from a nearby airport in Lincoln, according to the FAA.

A neighboring house received minor fire damage, Fergus said. Fergus said that the plane was not necessarily piloted by O'Brien.

The aircraft had the registration number 540FT and was built in 1996, Fergus said. It had up-to-date airworthiness certification and ownership appeared to have been transferred to O'Brien in November 2005.

The plane was classed as "experimental" by the FAA which means that at least 51 percent of it must be built by the registered owner, although professionals are allowed to give assistance to the owner in putting the aircraft together, Fergus said.

The FAA investigates all airplane crashes, and the National Transportation Safety Board looks into crashes that appear to involve some sort of anomaly, Fergus said.

The FAA's investigation will focus on "the flight profile from beginning to end," and will encompass examining the plane's navigation aids and communications equipment, the pilot's log and flying and medical certification and the plane's maintenance log, Fergus said.

"The huge majority of accidents," regarding of size and type, involve pilot error, he added.

The NTSB's investigation will focus on the cause of the crash, Fergus said.

The NTSB will release a preliminary report about the accident next week, Taleye Cornejo, NTSB air safety investigator, said today.

While the NTSB is actively involved in getting to the bottom of the accident, investigators will not be visiting the crash site but will use information reported to the agency by police, fire and recovery personnel as well as the FAA, Cornejo said.

Fergus said anyone with a basic pilot's license can fly a small plane under an altitude of 18,000 feet as long as weather conditions are clear for navigation purposes and as long as they can "navigate by visual site rules," Fergus said.

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