Victims Identified As Instructor, Student

A flight instructor and student pilot were killed Tuesday when their Cirrus SR20 crashed in a wooded marshland area of southern Volusia County near Deltona, FL.

The Orlando Sentinel reports Delta Connection Academy instructor Adi Atkinson, 23, and student Derek Fox, 30 were onboard the SR20. The aircraft had taken off from Orlando-Sanford International, and was the subject of an alert notice when it failed to show up at its destination, and was reported missing at 2 pm EST Tuesday.

Investigators say the aircraft was on a VFR training flight when the accident occurred, though the plane was being tracked on radar by the Orlando TRACON. Radar data indicates the aircraft was in a spiral when it crashed.

Delta Connection Academy spokeswoman Rachel Bragg said Tuesday's accident was the first fatal training mishap in the 20 years the school has been in Sanford.

"We have been using it over the last two years," Bragg said of the plane.

A sheriff's department helicopter spotted the wreckage early Wednesday morning, and detected faint heat signatures and a weak signal from the aircraft's ELT.

The aircraft's fuselage is mostly intact, which severe damage to the nose area. The aircraft's ballistic parachute recovery system appears to have deployed, though it's unknown whether that may have been due to impact forces.

"This is a very difficult day for us here at Delta Connection Academy," reads a statement posted Wednesday on the school's Web site. "...We have lost a flight instructor and a student. Our hearts go out to the families of our two colleagues, and our thoughts are with them during this tragic time."

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 493DA        Make/Model: SR20      Description: SR-20
  Date: 02/17/2009     Time: 2230

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Unknown

LOCATION
  City: NEW SMYRNA BEACH   State: FL   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE TWO PERSONS ON BOARD WERE
  FATALLY INJURED, AIRCRAFT WAS THE SUBJECT OF AN ALERT NOTICE, WRECKAGE
  LOCATED  NEAR NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FL

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:   2     Fat:   2     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Unknown      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: ORLANDO, FL  (SO15)                   Entry date: 02/18/2009

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.deltaconnectionacademy.com