The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

November 8, 2008

Fatal plane crash probe continues after one year

By Monica Pryts

GREENVILLE AREA — Last Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of the plane crash that killed Hermitage pilot Daniel R. Lloyd II. The cause is still undetermined.

“It’s still an open investigation,” said Todd Gunther, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator from the agency’s eastern office in Ashburn, Va.

A team of NTSB investigators has thoroughly examined the wreckage multiple times and expects to release a report in a month or two, Gunther said Wednesday.

That report will be reviewed by NTSB officials in Washington, D.C., who will have up to 60 days to issue a statement of probable cause, the final report detailing how and why the plane crashed.

The wreckage of the experimental Vans RV-10 plane was also studied by Federal Aviation Administration investigators and has been released to Lloyd’s insurance company, Gunther said.

Lloyd, 37, of 3249 Timber Lane, spent several years building the plane. It crashed on state Route 58, about a mile from Greenville Municipal Airport in Greene Township, from which Lloyd had taken off alone that morning.

One of Lloyd’s relatives told NTSB officials that Lloyd wanted to make sure the plane was functioning properly because he planned to fly his wife and two young children to Boston that afternoon.

Witnesses said the plane seemed to be flying low and the engine didn’t sound right before it crashed and caught fire, parts of it scattering across the road and a cornfield.

Lloyd’s pilot logbook said he had 221.4 hours of flight experience. He was not required to file a flight plan and was the only person at the airport that morning, NTSB officials have said.

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