Nov. 27—PINE TOWNSHIP — Flight records indicate that a pilot had planned to fly nonstop from upstate New York to Akron Wednesday evening, but diverted to make a stop at Clarion County Airport before a fatal crash.
Authorities identified the pilot as Richard Briggs, 65, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Mercer County Coroner John A. Libonati said Friday that Briggs died from injuries sustained in the accidental crash.
The coroner said Briggs was operating a single-engine Cessna 210 that crashed at 5:42 p.m. in a wooded area adjacent to Tri-County Industries, 159 TCI Park Drive in Pine Township.
Flight records show that the plane, which had a Federal Aviation Administration registry number of N6209U, flew Wednesday morning from Akron Fulton Airport in Akron to Westchester County Airport, Westchester County, N.Y., a short distance north of New York City.
Briggs had apparently filed a flight plan for a non-stop return trip to Akron Fulton. He left Westchester at 2:13 p.m. but diverted to Clarion County Airport, just outside of Clarion borough, at 5:09 p.m., turning around from its westward path and backtracking about 10 miles to the airport.
Transponder records indicate that the plane took off again at 5:25 p.m., bound for Akron Fulton Airport, about 120 miles away. The flight should have taken about an hour. But the Cessna — owned by Wilmington, Del., based Centurion LLC — crashed at 5:44 p.m., 19 minutes later.
The preliminary investigation suggests that the plane was experiencing "significant mechanical problems" before the crash, Libonati said.
The transponder data shows that Briggs' plane was cruising at 4,275 feet — aviation altitude refers to elevation above sea level — at 5:37 p.m. and 36 seconds, when it began to lose altitude. Less than two minutes later, the plane was falling at a rate of between 400 and 500 feet per minute.
Staff from the control tower at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna, Ohio, contacted Mercer County 911 to report that the plane had lost engine function, said Frank Jannetti, Mercer County's public safety director.
Briggs' plane crashed about 5:44 p.m. in a wooded area of Pine Township, at an elevation of 1,225 feet above sea level. The nearby borough of Grove City sits at an elevation of 1,256 feet. The crash site is about 2 miles east of the small Grove City Airport.
Libonati said the pilot was attempting to make a safe landing. Officials from the FAA, who were at the crash site Friday, are investigating and will issue a definitive ruling on the accident's cause.
Briggs' single-engine, six-seat plane, was carrying one passenger, who has not been identified. The passenger was flown to a burn center at a Pittsburgh hospital, Libonati said.
First responders from multiple agencies responded, including the state Department of Environmental Protection, Civil Air Patrol, state police, Mercer County Department of Public Safety, and fire departments from Pine Township, Springfield Township, East End in Mercer and Grove City.
Access to the crash site required hiking through a forested area and crossing a stream. Pine Township firefighters set up a makeshift bridge with wood planks and a ladder so FAA investigators could cross the stream.
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