Burned Fuselage From Gainesville Crash Recovered
POSTED: Sunday, November 9, 2008
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Federal investigators said they've recovered the badly burned fuselage and wings of a twin-engine plane that crashed near the Gainesville Regional Airport, killing all three people on board.
Pilot Andrew Ricciuti, 43, was killed, along with 51-year-old Gordon Bennett Taylor and his 52-year-old wife, Barbara Taylor. Gordon Taylor, a friend of the pilot, was headed from Key West to Gainesville for a kidney transplant.
Robert Gretz of the National Transportation Safety Board said the wreckage of the Partenavia P.68C was found Saturday in a patch of woods east of the airport's main runway. It is being taken to Orlando for examination.
Gretz said the plane's wings were apparently sheared off by the trees while the fuselage came to rest on its nose with its tail upright. Most of the aircraft's instruments were burned.
The crash occurred about 2:45 a.m. Friday after the plane received clearance for an instrument landing. Dense fog and thick foliage hampered search efforts for the plane.
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