State police late Wednesday identified the pilot in a fatal morning plane crash on Cuttyhunk as Allen P. Spaulding Jr., 70, of Wilmington De.
Police said the facts and circumstances surrounding the crash remain under investigation.
Mr. Spaulding, a longtime resident of Cuttyhunk, was the sole occupant of a 1965 fixed-wing Maule Bee Dee M-4-210 aircraft that crashed on a remote strip of land at the west end of the island. Cuttyhunk lies at the tip of the Elizabeth islands chain, to the west of Martha's Vineyard.
Early in the day police confirmed that the pilot had died, but did not release his name pending notification of family.
Dukes County Sheriff Michael A. McCormack said the plane crashed on takeoff and hit the tops of trees.
Coast Guard officials received reports of the crash at 10:30 Wednesday morning, and responded to the scene along with Martha’s Vineyard emergency and fire personnel and state police.
State police, Coast Guard, the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission are investigating the cause of the crash.
Comments
I'm sad for the pilot and his
Dave Stein West TisburyI'm sad for the pilot and his family.
At this point it hasn't been determined if the pilot was landing, taking off, or was in transit and attempted an emergency landing.
Cuttyhunk has an airstrip at the far eastern end that is shaped a bit like a hockey stick. The long leg, sandy I presume, is around 800 feet long. The other leg is about 500 feet long.
Although the Maule airplane the pilot was evidently flying has superior takeoff and landing capabilities for short fields, I always considered this strip among the most challenging I've every seen.
Here is a link to the airstrip from Google Earth: http://twitpic.com/cvgpcc
That is not the strip he was
DCEThat is not the strip he was using- the strip where he crashed was on west end.
I didn't realize there were
Dave Stein West TisburyI didn't realize there were two strips on the island. I've flown over it a hundred times and never saw the western strip. Seems to be around 1000 feet. Certainly less of a challenge than the other one.
The piolet, Allan Spaulding,
John Moore Maynard, MassThe piolet, Allan Spaulding, put in the privet grass air strip himself on his family land. For years he had himself been a house near the West End Pond of the island.
I think the link to the GE
Paul Sears Formerly ChappyI think the link to the GE image is to the air strip near the outer anchorage, not the grass strip shown in the news pictures. The pictured strip in the various news outlets (NECN, WCVB, CC Times, here) is on the SE side of Cutty, not the NE.
It would be nice to get this confirmed though.
The air strip spoken of in
BThe air strip spoken of in the article is on the west end of the island, not near the channel entering the harbor. Sad day on Cuttyhunk right now.
The accident occurred at Mr.
Mel Dorr Port Orange, FloridaThe accident occurred at Mr. Spaulding's private strip mid-Island on south
side - a strip of about 1100/1200ft in length - about a mile and a half from the airstrip on the east end of Cuttyhunk referred to above.
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