LEWISTON – Federal authorities hoped Saturday to airlift wreckage from Thursday’s plane crash in Newry to a more secure site for closer inspection.
A team of investigators also planned to interview witnesses to the crash that killed three Lewiston High School students and their flight instructor, said National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Paul Schlamm.
At least one airplane was likely in the area, along with several people on the ground, at the time the small plane went down in the woods on Barker Mountain near Sunday River ski resort, he said.
The investigation team, headed by the NTSB’s Todd Gunther, began combing through debris at the site in an effort to explain what caused the four-seater Cessna 172-K Skyhawk to crash at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Schlamm talked to Gunther on Saturday morning but hadn’t heard from him as of early evening. Cell phone coverage in the area is spotty, at best, Schlamm said.
Mark Latti from the Maine Warden Service said Saturday evening that a member of the Warden Service at the site said the wreckage had not yet been removed.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta confirmed Saturday the identities of three Lewiston High School students and the instructor, whose bodies were removed from the site by Friday evening.
As previously reported in the Sun Journal, the students were Nick Babcock, 17, Teisha Loesberg, 17, and Shannon Fortier, 15. The instructor was 24-year-old William “Charlie” Weir, who worked for Twin Cities Air Service in Auburn.
A news release issued by the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday said the students were identified by their dental records. No cause of death was reported.
Babcock, Loesberg and Fortier were members of the Air Force Junior ROTC program at the school. They had been taking part in a summer camp program with 33 other Junior ROTC students at the Bog Brook training area off Route 2 in Gilead.
The plane took off from Bethel Regional Airport, which has no air traffic control tower that might have been in communication with the pilot at the time of the crash.
Investigators will review the instructor’s training and experience, as well as the aircraft and its history, Schlamm said. Assisting Gunther at the site are two representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as one from Cessna and one from Lycoming, the engine’s manufacturer, he said. The team could complete its investigation in two or three days, or it might take longer if the salvage operation is difficult, he said.
The NTSB typically would file a preliminary report in about seven to 10 days after the on-site review has been completed and the investigator has returned to his office, Schlamm said. That report should be available at the agency’s Web site, www.NTSB.gov. It could take six months to a year for a final report, he said.
There are roughly 1,800 small plane accidents a year in the United States, Schlamm said.
In most cases, investigators are able to pinpoint a cause, he said. Sometimes, he said, damage is too extensive to be certain.
“They’ll do a very thorough investigation and make a serious effort to find out what happened,” he said.
In some cases, instruments from the plane might be brought back to the agency’s lab in Washington for further inspection. The plane’s engine might be torn down for examination of its working parts.
The final report might include a safety recommendation in an attempt to prevent the same type of accident from occurring in the future, Schlamm said.
Gunther had hoped to use a helicopter to pull the wreckage from the heavily wooded site. He considered taking it to Biddeford Municipal Airport but had to work out the details with the salvage operators and insurers, Schlamm said.
Meanwhile, at Lewiston High School, grief counselors from across the school district were available to meet with friends of the victims on Saturday.
School Principal Gus LeBlanc said eight or 10 students showed up.
“It wasn’t just counseling as much as I think it was for fellowship and companionship,” he said. “All of these kids were really nice young people, I mean, well-liked – good school citizens,” LeBlanc added, referring to Babcock, Loesberg and Fortier.
They were part of the Junior ROTC for all the right reasons, he said. “They wanted to participate, to give back to the community and to help others.”
Students who went to the school to speak with counselors were trying to understand why the crash happened, and why the lives of their friends were taken, LeBlanc said. “And the struggle is, there aren’t always answers. In this situation we don’t know why the plane crashed, we don’t know why this happened to these young people.”
A transportation safety board spokesman said a representative in charge of the agency’s investigation reported it was a four-hour hike to the spot, which lay in a heavily forested area.
LeBlanc said a crisis team will meet at the high school Monday to determine whether another open counseling session will be offered.
In addition, the Lewiston School District will be asking local businesses and individuals to contribute to a fund to help the victims’ families pay for funeral services and other necessary arrangements.
The families of the victims are all of modest means, he said.
For more information on the fund, please call the school department at 795-4100.
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