By TREY CHRISTY
trey.christy@newssun.com
SEBRING -- Two men died Saturday when the small, single-engine plane they were in broke apart in the air and crashed at Golf Hammock Country Club.
"The engine was making a sputtering sound," Golf Hammock resident Mark McLean said. "Some small parts came off first, then the wing came off and the tail shot off. It just disintegrated in midair."
The two-seater plane, reportedly a Forney Aircoupe, took off from the Avon Park airport some time Saturday morning, said Lt. Jess Purvis of the Highlands County Sheriff's Office.
Pilot James Weener, 70, Sebring, and passenger James Ricker, 46, a resident of Golf Hammock, were identified as the two victims, said Lt. Tim Lethbridge of the HCSO said.
Some reports said the plane was based in Avon Park, but officials are unsure who the owner was. It was not Weener or Ricker, Lethbridge said.
Weener was a resident of the Sudan Interior Mission, and according to his wife, had 50 years of flying experience, Lethbridge said.
"Ricker volunteers to help at the retirement village and was being taken on a pleasure airplane ride as a thank you," Lethbridge said.
Purvis said the plane was seen "orbiting (Golf Hammock) when it came down."
The crash occurred just after 11:30 a.m., and drew a crowd from the Golf Hammock neighborhood out onto the golf course.
Debris was scattered across the golf course and into the neighborhood, falling on and next to homes.
Early reports said that one of the men was seen ejecting from the plane before it crashed.
Some eyewitnesses to the crash were on the golf course when it happened.
"We heard the engine revving back and forth then the whole plane came apart in the air," said Blair Wadick, who was playing golf with local resident Dale Conrod.
"It was literally in pieces in the air," Conrod said.
The men were on hole No. 3 when they heard the plane and saw it hurtling towards the earth.
Curtis Donovan had a closer look from his rooftop while hanging Christmas decorations.
"It looked like he got going too fast," he said.
Donovan said he didn't think he saw a parachute, but if he did, it didn't open.
"We could see (one of the men) swinging his arms," he said. "I saw something dragging behind him, but it never opened."
The Aeromed helicopter was called to the scene to help try to locate the pilot and determine the size of the debris field, and the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation and Safety Board have been notified.
The FAA and HCSO are partnering with the investigation.
"The actual investigation as to what happened when it was in the air will be more of FAA's side of the investigation," Lethbridge said.
"Our focus will be what happened to the people."
This is the second fatal plane crash in Highlands County this year.
On June 20, local citrus grower and Lake Placid native Mason Smoak and David Maehr, a scientist from the University of Kentucky in the area studying black bears, died when their plane crashed at the Placid Lakes airport.
That cause of that crash is still under investigation by the NTSB and FAA.
Just last Sunday, a pilot escaped death when his plane clipped some power lines and crashed into an orange grove in Hardee County.
Saturday, December 13, 2008 - www.newssun.com/1214-tc-plane-crash-hammock