Father Was Killed In Previous Accident

One of the pilots in a mid-air collision south of Olympia (WA) Sunday night had been involved in another fatal accident less than a year ago, according to Seattle television station KOMO. As in the first crash, 20-year old Ghyrn Loveness survived.

NTSB investigators are still trying to figure out how Loveness's Cessna 170 collided with a T-210 south of Tenino. The T-210 disintegrated in the collision. The wreckage rained down in John Benedict's front yard.

Benedict told investigators he saw the mid-air. He said the two aircraft merged as if they were cars on a highway, according to KOMO. The 210's pilot, 33-year old Scott Christopher Devlin of Camas (WA), was killed instantly.

Witnesses say Loveness, meantime, was trying to land his C-170, its engine completely ripped out of the airframe, in a nearby field. Anthony Peterson, 14, tracked his flight.

"It was coming down and doing fine. Then, the plane hit the power line and kind of did a flip, and landed on it's back," he told KOMO. Peterson said the airplane missed his uncle's house by a matter of feet.

Loveness was able to walk away from the wreck. "He told my uncle he put it on auto pilot," said Peterson, "he was looking at a map and he kind of just got hit (by the other plane)."

NTSB investigator Tom Little said evidence at the crash site corroborated stories from Petrson and Benedict -- there was a mid-air collision. But he can't yet understand why.

"The weather wasn't a factor, there didn't appear to be any problems with the pilots that were certified" he said. "It's one of these see and avoid things when you are flying under visual flight rules conditions. It's incumbent upon the pilots to see and avoid the other pilots."

Little said the NTSB had good radar tracks on both aircraft up until the time of the crash.

Ghym Loveness, who lives on Vashon Island (WA), was involved in another fatal air accident last July 4th, according to FAA records. He was at the controls of a Beechcraft Bonanza when it lost power over the Columbia River. His father, Gary, was killed in the accident. His brother, Colin, survived with minor injuries.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov