Posted: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:38 AM - 9,074 Readers
By: Heather M. Smith
One person is dead and another injured after a small plane crashed into Lewisville Lake Thursday afternoon.
Around 4 p.m., a small plane went into the water north of Stewart Creek Park in an area adjacent to Westway Drive in The Colony. Kristin Kolby, a 41-year-old Dallas resident, died at the scene, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's office. The male pilot was transported by CareFlite to Parkland Hospital, according to Scott Thompson, fire chief of The Colony Fire Department. Authorities have not released the name of the pilot.
The pilot was pulled from the wreckage by two brothers, who saw the crash. According to 911 calls, the brothers pulled the pilot out of the water around 4:16 p.m. Johnny Hopkins performed CPR on the man for two minutes until the pilot regained consciousness.
The first 911 call came in at 4:05 p.m. A female caller said an airplane was flipped upside down on the lake. By 4:19 p.m., several other bystanders had called the crash into The Colony dispatchers.
The Lewisville Fire Department’s dive team was deployed to help with the accident. However, Thompson said when they arrived they could not get into the plane’s cockpit because it was so small.
The Colony Fire Department, the Lewisville Fire Department, representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration and the game warden were on scene Thursday afternoon trying to determine the cause of the accident. The FAA was investigating the aircraft, which was still in the water for 30 min.
“The FAA is on-scene and beginning its investigation,” Thompson said. “We’ll move the boat to shore after the investigation is complete. We don’t want to cause more damage to the aircraft.”
More than four hours after the initial crash, the aircraft was towed out of the water, still upside down. The aircraft is registered to a far North Dallas man, Thompson said.
“We’re looking into if this was an intended water landing,” Thompson said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating the crash. According to Lynn Lundsford, FAA spokesperson, any time there is a fatal accident, by law the NTSB takes over the investigation.
“What I know right now is that they are taking it to a secure location to complete the investigation,” Lundsford said. “The FAA will still be a part of the investigation, but the NTSB will spearhead it.”
The main goal of the investigation is to find out why the crash occurred, according to Keith Holloway, public affairs officer for the NTSB. The lead investigator is Timothy LeBaron. He will review any maintenance records for the aircraft, review the pilot’s records and eventually interview the pilot. LeBaron will also interview any witnesses who might have knowledge as to what happened during and leading up to the crash.
“Our investigator will be on scene throughout the weekend,” Holloway said. “We’re hoping to have a preliminary report by the end of next week, but the complete investigation will take 12 to 18 months.”
Lewisville Lake is said to be the second deadliest lake in Texas, according to Daron Blackerby, a Denton County game warden. The vast majority of the deaths are boating related, he said.
“Not very many planes have crashed in the lake. This is the first one I’ve seen in my four years with the county. There are a few airports around the lake, but not a lot of plane activity around the lake,” Blackerby said. “It’s more likely to see boating accidents than plane crashes.”
Blackerby attributed the number of deaths to alcohol and the large number of people that have access to the lake. He said more than 1 million have access to the lake in the area.
Lewisville Lake is a huge body of water covering nearly 30,000 acres, with 122 miles of shoreline.
During the past 20 years, an estimated 40 million people have visited Lewisville Lake. During that time, there have been a total of 87 accidental deaths.
In 2007, Lewisville conducted research about the lake. It used state medical examiner records and found that at least two other Texas lakes reported more annual drownings than Lewisville. Lake Conroe just north of Houston and Lake Travis just north of Austin reported more drownings.
According to its Web site, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2003 stated Lewisville Lake ranked among the top three Corps-operated reservoirs in Texas in terms of the number of annual drownings. Between 1999 and 2004, according to information provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there were 25 fatalities on Lake Travis, 21 on Lake Conroe and 17 on Lewisville Lake.
Lewisville Lake is patrolled by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard Auxiliary and Denton County Sheriff’s Office. The Lewisville Fire Department operates two boats on the lake and has primary rescue and recovery responsibility.
