JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- More than 16 hours after a private plane crashed in heavy fog on approach to Jacksonville International Airport, authorities reached the wreckage and confirmed that all four aboard were killed.

The victims -- including two partners in a Jacksonville law firm -- went down in the single-engine Piper 32 aircraft just before 8 p.m. Wednesday in a wooded area west of runway 7.

Donald Weidner (pictured, left) was the pilot, and his law partner Thomas Bowden a passenger. The other two victims -- believe to have been from Orange Park -- have not been identified.

The plane -- returning to Jacksonville from a Ft. Lauderdale business trip -- was diverted from Craig Municipal Airport to JIA because of thick fog.

Jacksonville Fire-Rescue spokesman Roscoe Hager said that when the plane approached JIA, the pilot was told to climb to 2,000 feet. In his last conversation with the tower, the pilot said he was "going off course."

Thick fog prevented aerial searching through the night and most of the most of the morning. Personnel from the Florida Air National Guard and the Civil Air Patrol joined Jacksonville Fire-Rescue in searching the heavily wooded and swampy area.

"It's been very difficult because of the terrain itself," Fire-Rescue chief Ray Alfred said.

A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board reached the scene at midday.

"From what we're hearing from the crash reports here, this was a fairly catastrophic incident," Fire-Rescue spokesman Lorin Mock said. "That probably initially it was fatal and was not going to be survivable in any case. But we clearly didn't know that last night and it's subject to frustration, certainly."

Family members of those on the plane arrived at the site before dawn and held a prayer vigil just outside the search area.

In addition to his acclaim in legal circles, Weidner ran for Congress against Corrine Brown in 1992 and was executive director of the Republican Party of Florida. He is the father of five children.

"We know that the lord is going to bring us through this and we know that he is with the lord now," Weidner's daughter Kristin Lewis said.

Weidner's nephew, Matt, said if his uncle wasn't at work, you could find him flying.

"If there's one message, it's just that this guy found what really made him happy and he chased it, and it was his family that made him happy, it was his work that made him happy, and it was flying that made him happy," Matt Weidner said.

Weidner is general counsel and executive director of the Florida Physicians Association. Bowden (pictured, left), an 1995 graduate of FSU law school, handles physicians' clients for the firm.

Friends said Bowden was committed to his faith and his girlfriend. His girlfriend's father, Jim Davis, said he thought Bowden and his daughter would get married soon. Davis said he looked forward to having Bowden as a son-in-law.

"He has got morals that you just can't put into words or describe," Davis said. "He was such a fantastic Christian young man."

This Piper PA-32 Cherokee is owned by DWW Plane, Inc., which is registered to the same Jacksonville address as the Weidner, Bowden and Weidner law firm.

The aircraft, built in 1968, is a six-seat aircraft capable of cruising at 116 mph over a range of 525 miles. It was registered to DWW in February of 1998.

On The Net:

Weidner, Bowden and Weidner, P.A.
Missing Plane's Registration Information