Sad news. Condolences to the families.

http://www.ktvz.com/news/31221178/detail.html


10:10 am | June 24, 2012
Four Killed in Lane County Plane Crash
By The Associated Press
POSTED: 10:57 pm PDT June 23, 2012


ELMIRA, Ore. -- Lane County officials say a plane crash in Oregon timber country has killed four people.
The Lane County Sheriff's Office says the small plane went down around 3:10 p.m. Saturday in a rural area west of Eugene. Citing witness reports, the sheriff's office says the plane began to lose altitude shortly after take-off and hit a tree.
Fire Chief Terry Ney says a wing of the single-engine Cessna plane was apparently torn off after hitting a large tree, and the aircraft landed upside down.
Lane County Fire pronounced all four people inside the aircraft dead at the scene. The victims' names have not been confirmed.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, with the sheriff's office helping secure the scene PrintEmail


Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Condolences. Very tragic ending to what was probably going to be a fun day in the air.

I saw the this article in the Eugene Register Guard Online and thought it was pointed journalism, uncalled for after the tragedy. Photo on the front page showed pretty tall trees to land into.

http://registerguard.com/web/newslocalnews/28281493-41/plane-crash-road-airstrip-lane.html.csp

Four die in Veneta plane crash
The Cessna 172 took off from a private airstrip and went down in a nearby wooded area
By Mark Baker

The Register-Guard

Published: (Sunday, Jun 24, 2012 09:10AM) Today


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Aaron Marineau/The Register-Guard
A plane crash near Veneta where all four occupants of the aircraft were pronounced dead at the scene by Lane Rural Fire.

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VENETA — Four people died Saturday after a Cessna 172 crashed in a wooded area south of Suttle Road after taking off from a private airstrip just west of the Oregon Country Fair property, according to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office.

The names of the deceased were not available Saturday. Sheriff’s office officials said the names would not be released until next of kin were notified. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were en route from Portland to investigate, sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Carver said.

The plane took off about 3:10 p.m. Saturday, southbound from a private airstrip at 24003 Suttle Road that, according to nearby residents and online Lane County records, is owned by Conrad Magnuson.

Approached about what happened, Magnuson, surrounded by a group of people in his driveway, yelled obscenities and told members of the media to get off his property.

“It’s going to take heavy tools to get them out of there,” Lane County District No. 1 Fire Chief Terry Ney said of the victims. The small plane “for whatever reason didn’t clear the woods,” Ney said.

All four occupants of the aircraft were pronounced dead at the scene by Lane Rural Fire, according to Carver. The sheriff’s office was assisting the NTSB with scene security and removal of the bodies, she said.

Magnuson’s airstrip, known as Crow-Mag Airport, according to county records, is on the north side of Suttle Road. The plane crashed on the south side of Suttle Road, just east of Ridiculous Road, on private property just east of John and Debbie Parker’s home.

A half dozen Lane County emergency vehicles could be seen parked near the crash site.

Debbie Parker said she had just gotten home Saturday afternoon and was unloading groceries when she heard the plane overhead.

“Didn’t sound real strong,” Parker said, sitting on her deck. “And then I heard it crash.”

She said she and her husband have lived there for 26 years and listened to planes take off and land. But they had never heard one crash, she said. They aren’t really bothered by the airstrip, “but it gets so loud sometimes you can’t hear yourself talk. We just live with it,” Parker said.

Some people associated with the nearby Oregon Country Fair property came by Saturday and thought the crash victims might be associated with the fair, Debbie Parker said.

A November 1991 Register-Guard story about Magnuson’s efforts to expand his small airport told of residents’ opposition. Residents said at the time that expansion would increase noise and create a higher risk of crash.

A manager of what was then the state Aeronautics Division said more planes would not increase safety risk. The story said the grass airstrip at Crow-Mag Airport was 3,100 feet long and 50 feet wide and built by the previous owner in 1969.

A Lane County hearings official ruled in October 1991 that Magnuson’s investment of money and labor in his airstrip since 1976 was sufficient to allow him to finish the project, according to the story.

Some neighbors quoted in the story complained of low-flying planes spooking their horses, but other neighbors said they had no problem with the airstrip.

However, one resident was quoted as saying: “If it grows to more airplanes like they want, I just feel there will be an accident.”

It’s unclear whether the number of planes at the airport was ever increased.

Just because it has four seats doesn't mean it will fly with four.

The depths to which that Register Guard articles goes regarding the airstrip and the neighbors makes me want to punch someone. I can't blame the old boy for yelling at the reporters and telling them to clear out. It's like responding to the scene of an auto accident, and asking in-depth questions about the road and the driveways-- no one would ever do that.

To give the newspaper reporter(s) a little credit, at least they did some research & came up with some actual background on the airstrip instead of just saying "airplanes are dangerous and private airstrips are too". Didn't read anything about no flight plan or no control tower either, at least that's something.