Victims Identified As Instructor, Student
A flight instructor and student pilot were killed Tuesday when
their Cirrus SR20 crashed in a wooded marshland area of southern
Volusia County near Deltona, FL.
The Orlando Sentinel reports Delta Connection Academy instructor
Adi Atkinson, 23, and student Derek Fox, 30 were onboard the SR20.
The aircraft had taken off from Orlando-Sanford International,
and was the subject of an alert notice when it failed to show
up at its destination, and was reported missing at 2 pm EST
Tuesday.
Investigators say the aircraft was on a VFR training flight when
the accident occurred, though the plane was being tracked on radar
by the Orlando TRACON. Radar data indicates the aircraft was in a
spiral when it crashed.
Delta Connection Academy spokeswoman Rachel Bragg said Tuesday's
accident was the first fatal training mishap in the 20 years the
school has been in Sanford.
"We have been using it over the last two years," Bragg said of
the plane.
A sheriff's department helicopter spotted the wreckage early
Wednesday morning, and detected faint heat signatures and a weak
signal from the aircraft's ELT.
The aircraft's fuselage is mostly intact, which severe damage to
the nose area. The aircraft's ballistic parachute recovery system
appears to have deployed, though it's unknown whether that may have
been due to impact forces.
"This is a very difficult day for us here at Delta Connection
Academy," reads a statement posted Wednesday on the school's Web
site. "...We have lost a flight instructor and a student. Our
hearts go out to the families of our two colleagues, and our
thoughts are with them during this tragic time."
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 493DA
Make/Model: SR20 Description:
SR-20
Date: 02/17/2009 Time: 2230
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury:
Fatal Mid Air: N Missing:
N
Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
City: NEW SMYRNA BEACH State: FL
Country: US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE TWO
PERSONS ON BOARD WERE
FATALLY INJURED, AIRCRAFT WAS THE SUBJECT OF AN ALERT
NOTICE, WRECKAGE
LOCATED NEAR NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FL
INJURY DATA Total
Fatal: 2
# Crew: 2 Fat:
2 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat:
0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
# Grnd:
Fat: 0 Ser:
0 Min:
0 Unk:
WEATHER: NOT REPORTED
OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase:
Unknown Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: ORLANDO, FL
(SO15)
Entry date: 02/18/2009