Two killed in plane crash
Parkersburg man aboard craft that struck dealership
Firefighters attempt to douse the flames on a plane that crashed at Pioneer Buick GMC in Reno Tuesday morning. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo provided by Houston Barber)
A plane crash caused multiple vehicles at the Pioneer Buick GMC lot in Reno to catch fire Tuesday morning. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo provided by Houston Barber)
The back of a plane that crashed Tuesday morning at Pioneer Buick GMC in Reno burns. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo provided by Houston Barber)
Smoke billows from a fire started by a crashing plane along Ohio 7/Pike Street in Reno Tuesday morning. (Photo provided by Amber Davis)
A firefighter walks by a burned airplane and vehicles Tuesday morning at the Pioneer Buick GMC lot at 1000 Pike St., Marietta. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo by Art Smith)
The wreckage of a crashed plane is seen at the Pioneer Buick GMC lot in Reno Tuesday morning after the fire was extinguished. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
The wreckage of a crashed plane is seen at the Pioneer Buick GMC lot in Reno Tuesday morning after the fire was extinguished. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Firefighters attempt to douse the flames on a plane that crashed at Pioneer Buick GMC in Reno Tuesday morning. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo provided by Houston Barber)
A plane crash caused multiple vehicles at the Pioneer Buick GMC lot in Reno to catch fire Tuesday morning. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo provided by Houston Barber)
The back of a plane that crashed Tuesday morning at Pioneer Buick GMC in Reno burns. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo provided by Houston Barber)
Smoke billows from a fire started by a crashing plane along Ohio 7/Pike Street in Reno Tuesday morning. (Photo provided by Amber Davis)
A firefighter walks by a burned airplane and vehicles Tuesday morning at the Pioneer Buick GMC lot at 1000 Pike St., Marietta. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo by Art Smith)
The wreckage of a crashed plane is seen at the Pioneer Buick GMC lot in Reno Tuesday morning after the fire was extinguished. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
The wreckage of a crashed plane is seen at the Pioneer Buick GMC lot in Reno Tuesday morning after the fire was extinguished. Two people, including a Parkersburg man, died in the crash which is under investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
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RENO -- A plane crashed into an Ohio 7 auto dealership lot Tuesday morning, killing the two people aboard, including a Parkersburg man.
Eric S. Seevers, 45, of Parkersburg, and Timothy F. Gifford, 49, of Orient, Ohio, were identified Tuesday afternoon as the occupants of the 1974 Beechcraft King Air E90, according to a release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The crash was reported around 7:15 a.m. Tuesday, with the patrol, Washington County Sheriff's Office and fire departments from Reno, Marietta and Williamstown responding.
The plane took off from John Glenn International Airport in Columbus at 6:35 a.m., said Lt. Nathan Dennis, with the patrol's Public Affairs Unit. It had been chartered by Parkersburg residents Wayne Waldeck and Lee Rector, owners of the Blennerhassett Hotel, Waldeck said.
"The plane was coming to pick up Lee and I to take us to Fort Lauderdale," Waldeck said. "We've flown on it, so many times."
He and Rector knew Seevers and Gifford, who Waldeck described as "excellent pilots."
"Our hearts are broken," he said.
The plane crashed in a lot beside the body shop at Pioneer Buick GMC at 1000 Pike St., Marietta, the release from the patrol said.
About a dozen vehicles were damaged by the crash and the subsequent fire, said Dick Nourse, owner of the Nourse family of dealerships, which includes Pioneer Buick GMC.
"It's tragic, and we feel sorry for the pilot and the passenger and certainly their families," Nourse said. "In a strange way … I would say we're very fortunate because it happened at 7:15 (Tuesday) morning, about 45 minutes before the dealership would have been opened," he added, noting there would have been employees and perhaps customers there less than an hour later.
No one on the ground was injured, Dennis said.
In addition to the patrol, the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
Parkersburg resident Amber Davis was working at Fastenal near the dealership early Tuesday morning.
"We heard a loud screech or sound or something, we didn't know quite what it was, and then followed by a huge explosion," she said. She and a co-worker went outside and saw "thick, thick, thick black smoke" coming from the dealership.
Davis suggested the pilot was trying to reach the soybean field behind the dealership. She said she couldn't imagine what would have happened if it crashed in an area with more people.
"That guy's a hero. … I think he saved a lot of lives today," she said.
Living on Mount Tom Road off Ohio 7, Cheryl Pugh and her daughter Lindsey are used to hearing planes go overhead. But Cheryl said that on Tuesday she was surprised to hear one flying that low, that early in the morning.
"This was unusually low," Lindsey Pugh said.
Even before social media started lighting up with posts and pictures from the scene, the Pughs knew something had happened.
"They were routing the traffic out our road. So we knew something was up," Cheryl Pugh said.
St. Marys resident Houston Barber, who works for Promanco, was at a job site behind Hometown Honda up the road when the plane came down. He heard a noise, looked over and saw a flash of light and a mushroom cloud, then he heard the sound of the explosion from the crash.
"As soon as we looked over, that's when it impacted," Barber said.
Barber said he was from 150 to 200 yards away from the crash site.
He and another Promanco employee drove to the scene where Barber said he jumped out of the truck and ran into a woman who said a plane had crashed. Barber said he got as close as he could to the fire and yelled toward the burning aircraft for any survivors.
"I yelled 'If you can hear me, holler out. If you can hear me, holler out,'" Barber said.
Nourse said the crash was near the dealership's body shop, so not all the vehicles there were for sale.
"We're sorting out whether those were customer vehicles or dealership vehicles," he said.
The NTSB will be in charge of the federal investigation and provide updates. A spokesman for the agency said Tuesday that the investigator will examine the aircraft and try to contact witnesses, while also gathering data from air traffic communications, radar, weather reports, aircraft maintenance records and the pilot's medical records and flight history.
"NTSB investigators will look at the human, machine and environment as the outline of the investigation," said Keith Holloway, with the NTSB.
The investigation will not be a quick process. Holloway said this is considered the "fact-gathering phase," and a preliminary report may be available in about 10 business days.
"A typical NTSB investigation can take 12-24 months to complete and determine cause," he said.
City editor Jess Mancini contributed to this story.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.