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3 die in glider accident

Submitted by tim on

***Update 6:20p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018***

Vermont State Police Emergency crews successfully recovered the bodies of the three victims of the glider crash late Thursday afternoon. The bodies were brought from the crash siteto the Beaver Meadow Trailhead staging area in Morristownat about 5 pm and transported to the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Burlington for autopsy.

***Update 2:35p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018***

Thursday afternoon, the Vermont State Police and Morristown Police Department identified the victims of Wednesday’s glider crash on Sterling Mountain in Morristown as follows:

  • Donald Post, 70, of Stowe, the glider’s pilot.
  • Frank Moroz III, 58, of Hamden, Connecticut.
  • Suzanne Moroz, 56, of Hamden, Connecticut.

At this hour, a recovery operation is underway on Sterling Mountain to remove the bodies from the site of the crash and bring them down to a staging area at the Beaver Meadow Trailhead in the Mount Mansfield State Forest. From there, funeral home personnel will transport the bodies to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for autopsies to determine cause and manner of death.

The Morristown Police Department is leading the death investigation. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are sending investigators to Vermont to determine the cause of the glider crash. The Vermont State Police, working in conjunction with numerous other agencies, is coordinating the operation to recover the bodies of the three victims.

Recovery efforts resumed at about 9 a.m. Thursday and are expected to continue for several more hours. The crash site is in remote, heavily wooded forest near the summit of Sterling Mountain. The site is off the Long Trail more than a mile from the Beaver Meadow Trailhead, and about 1,500 feet higher in elevation.

The glider, a Schweizer with tail number 17970, is owned by Stowe Soaring and operated from the Morrisville-Stowe State Airport. The fuselage is reported to be intact, with the wings torn away in the crash. A private pilot based at the Morrisville-Stowe State Airport located the wreckage from the air at about 5:35 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after she took off to make one last pass over the area where the glider was lost before thunderstorms arrived.

Agencies involved in the search and recovery effort include: Morristown Police Department, Morrisville Fire Department, Vermont State Police Search and Rescue, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, Stowe Mountain Rescue, Colchester Technical Rescue, Waterbury Backcountry Rescue Team, Huntington Search and Rescue andRichmond Rescue.

Further updates will be issued when additional information is available.

***Update 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018***

At about9:35 p.m.Wednesday, search and rescue crews reached the wreckage of a glider that had gone down earlier in the day with three people aboard near the summit of Sterling Mountain. Emergency responders located the bodies of the glider pilot and two passengers.
Their identities are being withheldpending notification of next of kin.
Crews now are focusing on bringing the bodies down from the remote, wooded crash site, which is about a mile from the nearest trailhead and 1,500 feet higher in elevation.Thateffortis expected to begin in the morning andtake several hours. Afterward, the bodies will be transported to the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Burlington for autopsies.
The glider was owned by Stowe Soaring, a business that operates fromtheMorrisville-Stowe State Airport.
Investigators from theFederal AviationAdministration and the National Transportation Safety Board will be in Vermont to investigate the cause of the crash.
No additional information is available at this time. Updates will followon Thursday.
***Initial news release, 6:25 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018***
Search and rescue crews from multiple agencies including the Vermont State Police are responding to a glider with three people aboard that went down in the mountains in the Stowe/Morrisville area.
A tow plane with the glider attached departed from the Morrisville-Stowe State Airport at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 29, 2018. The glider disconnected over Spruce Peak about20 minutes later. The glider carried three people: a pilot and two passengers.
The Morristown Police Department received a report that the glider was missing at1:56 p.m.Wednesday. Emergency crews from Morrisville and Stowe police departments along with the Vermont State Police responded to the airport to establish acommand post and begin a search operation. At about5:35 p.m., the crew of an aircraft launched from the airport located what appeared to be the glider approximately 1,000 feet from the summit of SterlingMountain. Search and rescue crews are working to reach the location. The condition of those aboard is unknown.
Anyone who has information about this incident is asked to callVermont State Police, Williston Barracks, 802 878-7111.

CASE#: 18A103904
STATION:Williston
CONTACT#: 802-878-7111

DATE/TIME: 08/29/2018 at 1:56 p.m.
INCIDENT LOCATION: Morrisville-Stowe State Airport,2305 Laporte Rd., Stowe, Vermont
INCIDENT: Downed glider - search and rescue