Inspection of downed plane to begin

LEVERETT, Mass. - Federal crash investigators are to begin a detailed mechanical inspection of a Cessna 206 that crashed in a field near this town in western Massachusetts, killing one man and injuring three other people, all from Long Island.

Jose Obregon, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said Wednesday that the Cessna would be loaded onto a truck and moved from a meadow where it crashed about 3:50 p.m. Sunday after its engine failed about a half-hour after takeoff from Keene, N.H., bound for Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma.

"We'll do a detailed wreckage examination," Obregon said. "We start getting down to individual components to see what may have contributed to the accident."

A preliminary investigation showed that the plane's single engine stopped producing power two minutes after the pilot noticed engine trouble. The plane glided to the field but its landing gear snagged a power line, causing the plane to flip and land on its roof, investigators said.

Passenger Robert Lothrop, 62, who recently moved to Stony Brook, was killed in the crash.

Lothrop was an employee of William Schley, 37, chief executive of Airborne Maintenance Inc., a repair shop based at MacArthur that owned the aircraft. Schley was in critical condition at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass.

Longwood Middle School teacher Dayna DiCamillo, 33, of Miller Place, was in stable condition at the same hospital. Pilot Matthew Wilding of Stony Brook was released, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday.

The spokesman, Benjamin Craft, said he had no more information about DiCamillo and Schley.

The four on the plane were returning from a pleasure trip to New Hampshire, said Jon Ross, director of operations for North American Air Charter Inc., which rents space to Schley's company at MacArthur.