Navajo Down in Ankeny, IA

From the Des Moines Register on-line edition:

Two people killed in plane crash near Ankeny airport
By TOM ALEX, JEFF ECKHOFF AND LAURA PIEPER
REGISTER STAFF WRITERS

November 8, 2005

Two people died this morning when the twin-engine aircraft they were in
crashed in a field about three miles northeast of the Ankeny Regional
Airport.

The crash was reported shortly after 10 a.m. in the 8800 block of NE
38th Street. Witnesses said the Piper Navaho went down amid windy
conditions.

Polk County sheriff's deputies confirmed that two people inside the
aircraft were killed.

The pilot was Doug Dority, 63, of Des Moines. His only passenger was
Harold Miller, 56, of Des Moines.

Miller worked at Snyder and Associates in Ankeny. Snyder is a design
and engineering firm.

Stephen Rowe, president of Snyder, said Miller was traveling to
Emmetsburg to work on an aviation project for that city.

Snyder chartered the plane from Exec 1 Aviation in Ankeny, Rowe said.

"We are obviously going to be grieving for our team member and his
family," Rowe said, "and our condolences of course go out to the family
of the pilot."

Sheriff's Sgt. Joe Simon said the plane had just taken off from the
Ankeny airport.

"They were having engine problems and they tried to get back to the
airport," he said.

Witnesses said the plane quickly lost altitude and went down in a
freshly plowed field.

Federal Aviation Administration records show the aircraft is registered
to Magic Aviation in Ankeny and owned by Exec 1 Aviation Inc. in
Newton. The aircraft could hold six passengers and cruises at about 160
mph.

Lee Walker, an attorney for one of the owners of Exec 1, said the plane
was on a charter flight.

"All I know is, it's one of our planes," Walker said.

According to the company web site, Exec 1 Aviation specializes in
passenger, freight, and air ambulance aircraft charters. The company
also does aircraft maintenance and pilot training.

No flames were visible at the crash scene, but the back of the plane
was blackened and pointing skyward.

Simon said officials were notified of the crash by a 911 call. People
on the scene estimated the crash happened just before 10 a.m.

"It was a pretty severe crash," Simon said. "The plane has a lot of
damage upfront in the cockpit area."

The plane landed in the field of John Jensen, 8889 N.E. 38th St.

Jensen said he was in his office when he heard a plane go over his farm
and he looked out the window.

''Boy, that plane was awful low, about level with my house, maybe a
little higher,'' he said. ''I followed it as it went over my
field, just gradually kept getting lower and lower and it hit my plowed
ground.''

Jensen said the plane flipped.

''No smoke, no nothing,'' he said.''It was a puff of dust
when it hit.''

After the plane went down, his wife, Karen, called the authorities and
he jumped on his four-wheeler and went to the crash site, which is less
than half a mile from his home.

''I climbed up on the tanks. The tanks were leaking fuel, no fire,
but they were leaking fuel,'' he said.

Jensen said the plane appeared to be losing altitute when it went over
his home.

''It didn't do any nose-diving until it hit the ground. Just one
flip, that was it,'' he said.

He said he saw two men inside the plane and both were dead.

Leroy Cornwell of Marshalltown farms land near the crash site. He was
on his way back from a meeting in Slater, Cornwell said, when he saw
the plane in the field.

Cornwell said he couldn't figure out why the plane landed where it did.
Ankeny Regional Airport is roughly two miles southwest of the crash
site.

"I don't understand," he said. "That's not the approach to the
airport today."

The crash scene is in a mostly rural area, but there are a few homes in
the area. Residents were being questioned this morning about what they
heard prior to the crash.

Before Tuesday, Iowa already had had more than its annual average of
five small-plane fatalities, according to Department of Transportation
records. It marked the fourth fatal crash in Iowa this year. Eight
people have died.

Three small-plane crashes in March claimed six lives in Iowa in two
days, one of the deadliest stretches of such accidents since at least
1990.

The most small-plane deaths in a year in Iowa was 16, in 1993.

"This is very definitely an anomaly," Gary Fisher, a Monticello
optometrist and past president of the Associated Pilots of Iowa, said
after the March crashes.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"