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Wilmington NC Mig Crash Wednesday September 18 2002
Green Swamp - The pilot of a MiG-15 jet who
died when his plane crashed Wednesday was to fly the antique fighter in an
air show this weekend in Virginia.
Dr. Tom Righetti, 61, a radiologist, was a licensed pilot for 20 years.
He was chairman and president of the Wings Over Miami Museum, which exhibits
military and classic aircraft.
He had been flying jets like the Soviet-built MiG-15 for about eight years,
the museum's Internet site said.
Dr. Righetti had apparently taken off from an airport in the Myrtle Beach
area Wednesday and was on his way to perform in the 2002 Neptune Festival
Air Show in Virginia Beach, Va.
Dr. Righetti's last contact with air traffic controllers was around 1 or 2
p.m. Wednesday when he said he was in a storm and was returning to Myrtle
Beach, said Andy Mayes, a helicopter pilot from Burgaw who helped locate the
wreckage.
The lack of roads and the thick forest in Columbus County's portion of the
Green Swamp kept rescue crews from reaching the crash site until late
Thursday morning, almost a day after the jet apparently went down.
Mr. Mayes used GPS coordinates provided by a U.S. Marine rescue
helicopter to pinpoint the crash site for ground crews Thursday morning.
"All that remained intact were the wing tips and tail gear. Everything else
was
in ruins," Mr. Mayes said after returning from the crash site.
The Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board
and the Columbus County coroner were called to investigate before the
wreckage and body were removed.
The plane had been consumed by fire, Mr. Mayes said.
Mr. Mayes gave the fire marshal a lift to the site as he led ground crews
there, four miles off N.C. 211 in the Green Swamp and about 300 yards from
an access road.
Brunswick and Columbus County emergency officials began searching around
9:30 p.m. Wednesday off N.C. 211 for the missing MiG-15.
According to the FAA registry, the two-seat single-engine plane was built in
1956.
Including Dr. Righetti's plane, 36 MiG-15s are registered with the FAA.
According to the Air Force, it was the same type of plane used against the
United Nations in the Korean War.
The planes could fly a maximum range of 500 miles at about 525 mph and had a
top speed of 670 mph.
They are 33 feet long and have a 33-foot wingspan.
Brunswick County officials received word around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday that a
plane headed to an air show in Virginia Beach, Va., was missing and was
thought to be somewhere in Columbus County, Fire Marshal Jerry Avery said.
Unclear exactly which county the crash site was in, ground crews made up of
deputies, firefighters and emergency management officials from Brunswick and
Columbus counties picked up the search.
A Marine rescue helicopter from Cherry Point spotted the downed smoking jet
in Columbus County and gave coordinates to crews on the ground early
Thursday morning, officials of the Civietown Volunteer Fire Department said.
They were unable to locate the jet or its pilot because of the darkness and
the adverse terrain, Mr. Avery said.
The search was called off around 3 a.m. Thursday to wait for
daylight Columbus County crews resumed the search at daylight.
Officials brought in tractors from the N.C. Forest Service to clear a path
for
the search that eventually led to the crash site. The NTSB took over the
investigation, but no one from the agency could be reached Thursday evening. |
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