Pilot Called Mayday, Reported Being Low On Fuel

The crash of a small twin-engine plane near Huntington, WV's Tri-State Airport (HTS) Friday afternoon claimed the lives of all six persons on board, with fuel exhaustion suspected as the most likely cause of the accident.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said, "The pilot issued a mayday. The mayday was based on low fuel." Peters said Tri-State air traffic controllers were talking with the pilot when the PA-34 Seneca made a sudden 180-degree turn and they lost contact with him.

The tower was "struggling with the pilot to maintain course alignment" before it crashed, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brian Rayner said. Reports indicate snow and poor visibility prevailed in the area at the time of the crash.

Raynor said the airplane was destroyed as it severed a power line and impacted in a wooded area. Raynor said investigators had not yet established the flight's origin or destination, nor had the identities of the deceased been released.

Witness Chris Smith and his daughter were outside when the stricken plane passed overhead. "It was flying way too low," he told The Herald Dispatch of Huntington. "It was flying so low I could have thrown a rock up and hit the bottom of the plane."

According to the Associated Press, Smith's wife Amanda heard the crash, just before the power went out. "My husband ran in with my daughter because they were sleigh riding and said, 'Call 911. A plane crashed,"' Amanda said.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov