Plane Down On Takeoff From Fly-In Community

A Thorp experimental airplane went down in Wellington, FL Sunday morning, claiming the lives of the president of the Wellington Aero Club and his wife.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports the aircraft had just departed the Wellington Aero Club fly-in community (FD38) when the engine apparently quit.  The plane impacted terrain in the middle of a dog park; Aero Club President Scott Schlander and his wife were both lost in the accident.

Club Director Guy Maira received a call from a controller at the Palm Beach International Airport identifying the victims. The accident occurred a half-mile southeast of the community's 4,000-foot turf runway.

"I tell you, he must have really done some maneuvering to end up where he did," Board director John Wagner told the Sun-Sentinel. "It's in the middle of the dog park, and it's turned around the opposite way of how it would be to take off."

Wagner was on his back porch when he heard the Thorp Schlander recently purchased take off.  A few seconds later, he heard the engine cut out.  He said a witness of the accident told him the plane "just made a turn and came straight down."

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.wellingtonaeroclub.com/