Investigators search for clues in fatal airplane crash in Ada

Monday, July 25th 2005, 6:45 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A federal investigator examined the charred wreckage of a twin-engine aircraft Monday a day after the plane crashed and burned in Ada, killing three members of a prominent Oklahoma family.

The crash killed Harland Brent Stonecipher, who was a pilot for Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.; his wife, Tina Lynn Stonecipher, and their 11-year-old daughter Nicole Ann Stonecipher. Harland Stonecipher was the son of Pre-Paid's founder, also named Harland Stonecipher.

"Brent and Tina and Nicky had spent the weekend in Branson, enjoying a show and doing a little back-to-school shopping," Pre-Paid Vice President John Long said, his voiced choked with emotion.

The Stoneciphers, who lived in Cushing, flew to Ada to spend time with Stonecipher's father. The aircraft they were in, a Cessna 310, was the younger Stonecipher's personal aircraft, he said.

"He was an accomplished pilot," Long said. "By accounts so far there's no pilot error on this deal, just a malfunction of the plane."

Tim LeBaron, an air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board in Arlington, Texas, said an investigator performed an onsite inspection of the wreckage and the area where the aircraft plunged to the ground Sunday along U.S. 377 near Ada's general aviation airport.

Witnesses reported hearing the aircraft's engines sputter shortly before 6 p.m., Oklahoma Highway Patrol officials said. The aircraft turned and may have been trying to return to the Pontotoc County airfield when it slammed into the ground and burst into flames.

Although the aircraft was damaged in the fire, many components remain intact for the NTSB investigator "to rule out what it wasn't" as she searches for clues in the crash, LeBaron said.

"There's still a lot of evidence there," he said.

The aircraft's engines will be removed from the wreckage and examined by their manufacturer, he said. LeBaron said the investigator, Leah Yeager, will also examine the pilot's background, his health and his flying experience.

"Hopefully, by going through all of this we can come up with some safety issue," LeBaron said. lessons learned in the investigation may help prevent future crashes, he said.

The NTSB will issue a preliminary report on the crash in five days, LeBaron said. The crash's probable cause will be determined by the NTSB following a more thorough investigation that could take several months.