Witnesses Say Plane Broke Apart Before Impact

Three persons were killed Thursday when their Piper PA-28R-200 went down near Abilene, TX.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the aircraft, which had departed Arlington Airport, crashed just past 1500 CST. Witnesses on the ground said the plane broke apart before it impacted.

Onboard the plane were flight instructor Robert William Davey, 29, and students Luca Visani and Andrea Venturini. The latter were from Cesena and Mantova, Italy, respectively.

The plane went down about four miles south of Interstate 20, which links Abilene to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, near the town of Ranger, according to FAA spokesman Roland Herwig. Debris from the crash covered about one square mile.

The accident aircraft (shown below) was registered to Skymates, Inc., a flight school based in Arlington.

As ANN reported, in its preliminary report issued earlier this week, the National Transportation Safety Board said the October 26 downing of a PA-28R-200 near Colorado City, AZ was preceded by an in-flight break-up. Both outboard wing stations separated from the inboard sections on both sides, according to the prelim.

The nature of the break-up reported by witnesses to Thursday's crash wasn't reported. The FAA and NTSB are investigating.

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 55307        Make/Model: PA28      Description: PA-28 CHEROKEE, ARROW, WARRIOR, ACHER, D
  Date: 11/15/2007     Time: 2200

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

LOCATION
  City: ABILENE   State: TX   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, 3 FATAL, ABILENE, TX

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

WEATHER: 2221Z CALM 10 CLR 14/-12 A3037

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Training      Phase: Unknown      Operation: Other

  FAA FSDO: LUBBOCK, TX  (SW13)                   Entry date: 11/16/2007

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov, www.skymates.com