Two Other Passengers Hospitalized

The call came into the Ohio State Police at around 4:00 p.m. Saturday. A confused-sounding woman told a dispatcher that she had just survived the crash of a small plane near the airport in Galion (OH). The woman had wandered over to a nearby farmhouse and used the phone. She wasn't sure where she was.

When police and rescue workers arrived at the scene, they found the Piper twin-engine aircraft had clipped some trees, then broken into three pieces as it hit the ground along State Highway 309, not far from a house.

Inside the shattered cockpit, which was a piece of wreckage unto itself, they found the bodies of  38-year old James Mitchell and his son, five-year old Justin. Police on the scene say the wreckage was so gnarled that rescuers had to use the Jaws of Life to extract James Mitchell from the aircraft.

Weather played a factor in the search and recovery efforts and, according to officials on the scene, may have played a role in the crash itself.

Heavy thunderstorms were over the area at the time the twin Piper went down. Efforts to airlift the elder Mitchell to a hospital in Toledo were grounded by the ongoing storms. As the weather cleared, 47-year-old Jean Mitchell and three-year old Jenna Mitchell were airlifted to a hospital in Cleveland. Their relationship to the pilot and his son wasn't immediately known.  FAA and NTSB investigators are on the scene now, trying to determine the cause of the crash. Both survivors are now listed in stable condition.

**   Report created 8/5/2003   Record 19  **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 577SK        Make/Model: PA34      Description: PA-34 Seneca
  Date: 08/02/2003     Time: 2000
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
  City: GALION   State: OH   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  ACFT ATTEMPTED TO LAND AND HIT TREELINE AND CRASHED 200-500 YARDS SW OF GALION AIRPORT, FOUR PERSONS ON BOARD, TWO WERE FATALLY INJURED, TWO ARE SUSTAINED SERIOUS INJURIES, OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES ARE UNKNOWN, GALION, OH
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:  1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   3     Fat:   1     Ser:   2     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: METAR KMFD 021952Z 22009KT 11/4 TSRA BR OVC015 19/18 A2999
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Landing      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: UNK                         Dep Date:    Dep. Time:
  Destination: UNK                      Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: Y
  Last Radio Cont: UNK
  Last Clearance: UNK
  FAA FSDO: CLEVELAND, OH  (GL25)                 Entry date: 08/04/2003

FMI: www.faa.gov