Expert breaks down key questions in deadly plane crash

I want to get straight to the stories that we're following right now at 2 o'clock. And this is a big one. It has to do with a plane crash that happened in Lawrenceville yesterday. One person is dead and another was injured after a small plane crashed into the woods in Gwinnett County. Now investigators are working to determine what went wrong. Retired Navy commander, Navy pilot, and retired FBI special agent Richard Kolko is standing by live. He'll walk us through the investigation and the key questions that could help explain what brought this plane down. But first, Larry Sproul is live at the scene. And he was able to speak with a witness who actually ran into the woods after calling for help. Larry, what can you tell us about what he had to say and then what happened afterward? Good afternoon, Tyler. That witness tells me that he got off of work around 530. He got home around 545 and he saw the records in the woods from that plane crash. Take a look right behind me. You can see crews right now. They are trying to get that plane out of the woods. This plane is still here from last night around 530 when this crash happened. Now, federal investigators tell us a Velocity 17173 FG plane crash in the woods near Winder Highway and Bacchus Drive around 5:30. 5:30 last night. Now two men were trapped inside that small craft when it slammed into the ground. Now we're about one mile from the Gwinnett County Airport. One man sitting on the left side of the aircraft died from the impact. First responders were able to pull out that second man. We told that that second man will be okay. Now I did speak with one witness who was first on the scene. Take a listen. I got off work about 5:30 yesterday and was coming down Old Athens and I noticed the wreckage. And so I walked over and I noticed that there was an aircraft in the woods and I noticed that somebody was moving around and I shouted hello, hello and they didn't respond. So that's when I called 911 and they got here within a few minutes and it's pretty scary stuff. And we are working to identify the two victims that was involved with this plane crash. And I also asked that witness, I said, what was going through your mind when you ran into the woods and you saw that plane crash? I'm working on that part of the story all new at four. We're live in Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County. I'm Larry Sproul, Fox 5 News. And Larry, while I have you, so obviously he ran into the woods. Was it on fire? I mean, what did he see as he kind of got up there and was he actually able to help anyone? I mean, obviously when you have a plane crash, it fell out of the sky. You can see just the wreckage behind you. It's definitely heavily damaged. Yeah, and so I asked him, I said, you know, was the plane on fire? He said he he didn't he didn't see any fire, but he saw a lot of damage, a lot of wreckage from a street all the way into the woods. And so at that very moment, as you heard him, he said he kept asking for help. And then he was like the first thing that he needed to do was call 911 to at least get some help here to the scene. And that's when crews arrived. He says roughly between 10 to 15 minutes. It was very quickly. But he said he did not see any fire, but he did see a lot of damage, a lot. of stuff and debris left behind from that crash. As a matter of fact, once again, we can just take a look right. I want to kind of give you an advantage point. So we're Into the woods, but the street is roughly probably about less than 20 or 30 feet from from the plane crash. So it wasn't far from the street, but the plane crash is deep in the woods here and still on the ground at this very hour. We are told that any minute now crews would be trying to take away that debris and put it on the on the back of a of a trucker here on the street. But it's giving and taking a quick moment. But as right now, once again, Tyler, The NTSB, they are on scene. Investigators here are on scene as well. Tyler? Yeah, actively working to figure out what went wrong. Larry Spruill, live in Gwinnett County this afternoon. I appreciate your time, and we'll let you get back to working on the latest for Fox 5 News at 4, 5, and 6. Larry Spruill, thank you so much. And I want to continue talking about this plane crash, because obviously when something like this happens, there's lots of questions. And as we just saw in Larry's report there, the live picture, the NTSB is on scene. You can see it on the back of one of those blue shirts. It said NTSB. So we know investigators are working right now to figure out what exactly happened. And we want to look at the questions they'll need to answer. So joining us now live is Richard Kolko, retired Navy commander, Navy pilot and retired FBI special agent who has worked investigations. So, Richard, I appreciate you joining us this afternoon. Glad to be here, Tyler. Thank you. Sorry, it's for this story. Yeah, I mean, definitely a tragedy. One person was killed, one person injured. We know that there was reported engine trouble as this plane was going in for a landing. I mean, what are investigators going to be looking at exactly as they try to figure out what exactly went wrong? And does a plane like this, this small size, would it have black boxes that could aid an investigation? Actually, Tyler, it probably doesn't have any black boxes that'll help with the investigation, but there's a witness alive, so hopefully they'll be able to answer some questions. I heard the reporter say that the person on the left side of the airplane is deceased. It's typical that the person in that left seat is the pilot, or at least the pilot in command, while both of them may have been pilots. Very dangerous situation there, just see them walking I'm walking in the woods. When you're a pilot, you're always looking for somewhere to land if the engine goes out. Where can I put this airplane down? And putting it down in the woods and putting it down in the woods as you're, you know, as it's getting dark out, just there's no measure of success there. So this is a very, very difficult situation. Certainly would have preferred a golf course, a road, any open field, but it obviously didn't work out that way. So investigators are going to try and track that down. They want to know what happened here. That's always what the NTSB goes to these investigations for. And it's not just to figure out what happened here. It's are there any tips or any other information that can help prevent a future accident from happening. So that's the real critical elements that they're looking for here as they do their investigation. Yeah, that's the answer. Obviously, the unfortunate part is someone already died, and you want to make sure that it doesn't happen again, especially if there's something wrong with the plane or the model. As we know, with that UPS plane, the engine came off and they started retiring the MD-11s there. So let's talk about this specifically. So we know the pilot had reported some engine trouble. I'm not a pilot, but I have covered aviation extensively, and I know that when you're in that final phase of flight trying to land, engine trouble is not a good sign or not a good thing because essentially your speed is already lower and there's only so much lift you're going to have at that point as you're trying to come in for a landing, a safe one. Sure. Until runway assured, as they say, you know, the loss of power is always a very, very dangerous situation. The pilot may have just had very, very limited options here. Again, as it was getting dark and if he was close enough to the runway that he thought he was going to make it. But clearly he didn't. So investigators are going to go over that. They'll check the. Air traffic control tapes. Again, they'll interview the surviving witness if possible. They'll break down the airplane. They'll take that engine to a facility somewhere and probably do what's called a bench turn or run it on the bench. They'll be able to actually start that engine up and see if they can duplicate what problem they had. Was it a fuel problem? Was there some sort of carburetor icing? Did the engine just... Fail. And of course, very critical, the maintenance records. This is what you introduced at the beginning of this story. What's called a kit plane. This is a home built. So somebody somewhere previously built this airplane in their home or in a hangar often takes years to do it. But every step of the way, there has to be inspections completed to make sure that the home builder is building it up to FAA standards. So that's very, very strict rules to get that airplane into the air in the first place. And they'll want to go back. There's only 600 or 700 of these airplanes, I think, out there since they started selling them 30-something years ago. And And I looked up some stats on it. Really a relatively safe airplane. There's been two or three accidents a year with the airplane. But when you call this the Velocity 173 FG, that stands for fixed gear. That means the wheels don't come up. The other model has retractable gear. And it turns out most of those, that most of the accidents for this airplane are what's called gear up landings. Somebody had problems with the landing gear or just forgot to put it down. You just taught me something new. I didn't know FG stood for that. I was looking at the Velocity, the name Velocity FG, and I didn't even think. that that would have meant a fixed gear. So learn something new just now. I do want to ask this. So you mentioned the kit build. The FAA classifies this airplane as an experimental and amateur build. I mean, what do those terms mean? And, I mean, obviously you said that this is a relatively safe aircraft. It's about 800 or so built over the last about 30 years. I mean, relatively safe plane, but obviously things can go wrong. But when people hear amateur build and experimental, should that... be a cause for concern, and maybe could that have contributed to this crash? Well, we'll answer that backwards. Would the amateur build first? That's the home build. That's the one they build in their garage, hangar, basement, whatever, wherever they choose to build the airplane. So that's what that is. Experimental is a type of aircraft that just has a different testing standards. When aircraft companies build airplanes, Boeing, Cessna, Citation, Gulfstream, they go through a different set of testings and those planes are then certified. The experimental ones have a different level of certification because of the way they're built, the cost, and just the whole process. So again, not a very dangerous thing. People relate to airplanes crashing as a very awful and dangerous thing, but when you really think about it, very, very safe. In the entire United States, there's only somewhere Somewhere between 1,000 and 1,300. General aviation, that's the small airplanes that actually crash. A lot of numbers aren't counted, a lot of emergencies. Like if he had lost his engine, landed on the runway, made it to the runway, it wouldn't have gone into that number of 1,000 to 1,300. So the ones that land successfully, numbers aren't calculated. They're not real good at keeping complete statistics on that. But when you think of all the flights that take place and everybody in all 50 states doing general aviation, That number sounds bad, but really. Compared to driving on the roads, driving your car, flying is still the safest way to get around. As long as you take care of that airplane, make sure that you are medically qualified, up to your certifications as a pilot, and don't do silly things, flying is a very, very safe way to get around. Gar, I appreciate you joining us this afternoon to break all of this down for us, and I appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us. Absolutely. As we come back in the newsroom, I want to tell you some breaking news. During that conversation just now, we just got the identity of the victim, the pilot on board. According to the church, Roswell United Methodist, they're identifying the victim as Eric Stevens. And I will tell you, we were doing some research before we came on here at 2 o'clock, and that is who the plane is registered to according to the tail number. The N number that is on the back of the aircraft. So he was the registered owner of this aircraft. And so I just want to read you what we're getting from Roswell United Methodist Church. It just got it on my phone just a couple of moments ago. It said Roswell United Methodist Church deeply grieves the death of Eric Stevens, a longtime church member and friend. We ask that you join us in keeping his wife, Cammie, daughters, Catherine, Mary, and their family in your prayers. The sanctuary and chapel will be open today beginning at 3 p.m. So just about 45 minutes for anyone who would would like to pray. There will be organized time of prayer beginning at 4 p.m. Clergy and Stevens ministers will be available this afternoon and evening to talk and pray alongside you. A prayer quilt will be placed in the sanctuary today through Sunday worship. We invite you to pray over the quilt for Eric's family as it will be given to provide God's comfort and love. May the peace of God which surpasses all understandings keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus And it says, your Roswell Church family. So again, breaking right now at two o'clock, we just were able to get the identity of the person who died aboard the plane in Lawrenceville that crashed as it was trying to land. Again, identified as Eric Stevens. And that is who the plane is registered to, according to the FAA. It's a story that Larry Spruill is following right now. And he'll bring us the very latest throughout the afternoon.