They Were To Be Married The Next Day

A couple on the eve of their wedding, along with two other people, were killed over the weekend when their aircraft crashed just outside the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

The Arizona Daily Sun identified the dead as:

• Pilot Jerry Howle, 57, Reno (NV)
• Jerry's son, Albert Howle, 34, Greenville (SC)
• Albert's fiancee; Anna Warszawa, 22, Poland
• Bulgarian tennis champ Milena Stanoycheva, 26, Augusta (GA)

"The plane disintegrated on contact and burned," said Detective Scott Feagan of the Coconino County Sheriff's Office.

The aircraft, a Lancair IV (file photos of type, above and below), took off from Las Vegas for a sightseeing trip on Saturday afternoon. Feagan said it was last seen on radar flying at 16,000 feet. Eleven minutes later, it disappeared.

"So it was coming down pretty hard," Feagan said.

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 299SD    Make/Model: LANC   Description: LANCAIR VI P
 Date: 05/15/2004   Time: 0031

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

LOCATION
 City: GRAND CANYON        State: AZ  Country: US

DESCRIPTION
 ACFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THREE PERSONS ON BOARD WERE
 FATALLY INJURED, 45 MILES NORTH WEST OF THE GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, AZ

INJURY DATA   Total Fatal:  3
         # Crew:  1   Fat:  1   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 
         # Pass:  2    Fat:  2   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 
         # Grnd:       Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED                               
                                          
                            

OTHER DATA
 Activity: Pleasure   Phase: Unknown   Operation: General Aviation

 Departed: UNK             Dep Date:  Dep. Time:  
 Destination: UNK           Flt Plan: UNK     Wx Briefing: U
 Last Radio Cont: UNK
 Last Clearance: UNK

 FAA FSDO: LAS VEGAS, NV (WP19)         Entry date: 05/17/2004

FMI: www.ntsb.gov