Lewis County Sirens.com

Other than a wheel assembly, only small pieces of debris could be seen spread over a small area in the parking lot of Chehalis Collision Center. / Courtesy photo by Bill Klumbs

Updated

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The small plane that crashed and burned last night near the airport in Chehalis was a three-quarter-sized replica of a popular WWII fighter plane, just put back together after being purchased and trailered in from out of the area.

The P5151 Mustang was piloted by a Centralia-Chehalis area resident who rented a hangar less than two weeks ago, Chehalis-Centralia Airport Manager Allyn Roe said.

“They spent the past week and a half getting the airplane reassembled,” Roe said. “I had not seen this plane fly, so I do not not know if it was its first flight or not.”

The pilot, a man whose identity has not been released, was killed when shortly after take off, the aircraft slammed into a fenced parking lot across Interstate 5 from the airport.

The crash into or just in front of two parked trucks included at least two explosions and a fire that burned very, very hot, according to neighbors and the fire chief.

It basically disintegrated, Chehalis Police Department Chief Glenn Schaffer said. “There was nothing left on the ground to indicate what type it was.”

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod confirmed the pilot was a Lewis County resident and said an autopsy will be conducted tomorrow. He’s been in contact with the family, McLeod said.

Police said the pilot’s family was at the airport before take off and also briefly at the crash scene.

The victim’s name will be released after he makes final positive identification through dental records or DNA, McLeod said.

The last fatal aircraft accident in the Chehalis-Centralia area was in 1991, according to Roe.

Roe said the short flight was witnessed by an out-of-the-area corporate jet pilot, who described the small plane as taking off to the north and really not going any higher than about 100 feet.

“Essentially it appeared that it was struggling to climb and gave an indication the motor was stalling,” Roe related.

It headed east instead of the normal traffic pattern of going west, Roe said, always in a right-hand turn.

“And then it rolled into what we describe as a knife edge,” he said. “One wing up, and one wing down.”

It was just before 7 p.m. when firefighters and police were dispatched to the fire just east of the freeway, along Maryland Avenue.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

Allen Kenitzer, an FAA spokesperson, said the aircraft is classified an experimental plane, meaning it was built by an individual and not a factory. The NTSB is the lead agency, he said.

No one on the ground was injured as it landed inside the fenced area of Chehalis Collision Center, a repair business.

“So nobody else was hurt,” Chief Schaffer said. “Whether that was a conscious decision by the pilot, I don’t know.

“But we’re fortunate and thankful that was the case.”

Schaffer said the business had a security camera pointed toward the area where the plane landed. It’s not information that will help police with their part of the investigation though, he said.

“We let the NTSB know, and pointed them in that direction,” Schaffer said.

Peter Knudson, a spokesperson for the NTSB, said an investigator was at the scene gathering information.

The pilot was not in communication with air traffic control, but the investigator spoke to at least one witness who said after takeoff, the plane appeared to be unstable, sort of pitching and rolling, Knudson said.

A preliminary report describing the facts and circumstances ought to be available within about 10 business days, he said, but the average length of an investigation is 12 months.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The now-former manager at Yard Birds who admitted to police he pocketed thousands of dollars on the job saying he’d gone bankrupt and was behind in his medical bills pleaded guilty today and is working to pay the money back.

David E. Briscoe

David E. Briscoe, 58, was charged in April with first-degree theft. He appeared out-of-custody this morning in Lewis County Superior Court.

His lawyer David Brown said he is trying to sell some property, to make restitution.

The Centralia man was responsible for managing the business’s swap meet area, vendors, storage units and recreational vehicle spaces on the property at the 2100 block of North National Avenue in Chehalis, according to police.

In his written statement read aloud by Judge James Lawler, Briscoe said he collected rent payments and kept them, and that it went on for three years, resulting in significant financial harm to the victim.

The crime, with the major economic offense enhancement, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, or as little as zero to 90 days in jail given his lack of a criminal history, the judge said.

Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Mark McClain said he plans to ask for one year and a day, while defense attorney David Brown will be requesting something less.

He was not sentenced today, but a date was set for Sept. 25, when they would meet again and schedule the hearing.

They are giving it some time, to see if over the next couple of months Briscoe can get prosecutors to change their mind about their recommendation, McClain said.

McClain said he’s not sure how much money was stolen, but thinks it could be more than $40,000, and said Briscoe has indicated it was at least $20,000.

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For background, read “Police: Yardbirds employee stole thousands of dollars from business” from Tuesday April 29, 2014, here

A small plane and parked vehicles burn in the parking lot of Chehalis Collision Center. / Courtesy photo by Martha Harjo

Updated at 9:34 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – A small plane crashed this evening into a parking lot across Interstate 5 from the Chehalis Airport, killing its pilot.

It struck two pickup trucks which caught fire, sending a column of black smoke into the sky at the scene just southeast of the Chamber of Commerce Way freeway interchange.

“All I have now is witnesses saw it took off at the airport and saw it go up and come down,” Chehalis Police Department Sgt. Gwen Carrell said. “It was a kit plane.”

The pilot’s family was at the airport when it took off, she said.

Firefighters called about 6:48 p.m. to the 900 block of Maryland Avenue were still spraying water and foam onto the vehicles more than a half hour later.

“I was just getting ready to water my flowers and I heard a big crash, kaboom,” nearby neighbor Judy Martin said. “I saw all this huge black smoke and then heard another explosion.”

Chehalis Fire Department Chief Rob Gebhart said it was only the one victim involved.

The two trucks were fully engulfed in flames, he said.

“I started putting out the fire on the pickups and kept thinking I was going to come around the corner and see a plane, but I didn’t, because there wasn’t much left,” Gebhart said.

Chehalis police were taking initial photographs and interviewing witnesses from the scene, as well as some who had been driving on the freeway. A representative with the Federal Aviation Administration is expected in the morning.

Numerous individuals from the neighborhood gathered on the sidewalk and street trying to get a glimpse of the goings on behind the chain-link fenced lot where it happened, belonging to the relatively new auto body business Chehalis Collision Center.

Wendy Cline who has lived on the corner for most of her life with a view of the small airport said she could only recall one time when a plane crashed.

“It ran off the end of the runway, I think,” Cline said. “It’s sad, it’s so sad.”

Gebhart said it was perhaps 10 years ago, when a Navy plane that came to give rides to the public crashed as it landed, because its landing gear wouldn’t come down. But nobody died, he said.

He couldn’t recall a fatal crash at the small but busy airport during his 27 years with the fire department, he said.

Firefighters and aid arrive to the scene of small plane crash in Chehalis. / Courtesy photo by Amanda Moore

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Firefighters continue to put water and foam on two trucks and what’s left of a small airplane in the parking lot of Chehalis Collision Center. 

Updated at 3:25 p.m.

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A high speed chase that ended on Interstate 5 in Centralia this morning began near Tumwater when a stranger at a woman’s doorstep demanded her car keys and money.

She had just opened her door to go to work and turned to get her purse when a man holding a small board over his head robbed her, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s Lt. Cliff Ziesemer said deputies called around 8:30 a.m. to the residence on the 4500 block of Black Lake Belmore Road Southwest learned that he grabbed the money and the 51-year-old woman threw the keys to her 2013 Subaru Forester out the door.

A neighbor hearing her calls for help briefly held the man at gunpoint but he fled, running down a fence and nearly hitting three people, Ziesemer said.

When the stranger got into the woman’s car, her dog jumped in as well, according to Ziesemer.

A nearby deputy gave chase and speeds reached as much as 125 mph down Interstate 5, according to the sheriff’s office.

An attempt to tap the fleeing car to spin it out of control failed to stop him, as did spike strips that flattened the two front tires near Grand Mound, according to Ziesemer.

“He continued about 100 mph on two flat tires,” Ziesemer said.

The Subaru rear-ended a sport utility vehicle just north of Centralia and finally the deputy used his patrol vehicle to pin the Subaru against the concrete barrier, according to authorities.

The driver, a 33-year-old Portland area man, was taken into custody, he said.

Ziesemer said he didn’t know exactly why the man did what he did.

Shawn B. Ollision was arrested and booked into the Thurston County Jail for eluding, robbery and other offenses including three counts of first-degree assault.

The 55-year-old Olympia woman whose Honda Pilot was struck on the freeway was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital as a precautionary measure, the Washington State Patrol reports. Both vehicles sustained what was described as reportable damage.

The Tumwater woman and her dog are doing okay, according to the sheriff’s office.