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Former military jet crashes in Harford Co., killing pilot
Aircraft clips house, explodes in back yard; No one on ground hurt
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The site of a plane crash in Forest Hill (Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron)
Aug 24, 2003
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By Liz F. Kay and Johnathon E. Briggs
Sun Staff
Originally published August 25, 2003
The pilot of a privately owned military training jet died yesterday when it nose-dived into a small Harford County community, clipped the side of a two-story house, crashed into a back yard and exploded into flames.
The two-seat Aero L-39Z0 Albatros took off from Martin State Airport in Middle River shortly after 11 a.m. and crashed about 15 minutes later in Forest Hill, according to Harford County and Federal Aviation Administration officials.
A huge plume of black smoke after the crash attracted scores of spectators as fire officials surveyed the 50-foot debris field in the community of Victorian-style homes.
No one on the ground was injured, but entangled in the wreckage was the body of the pilot, which authorities said was burned beyond recognition.
Authorities said no one else was in the plane.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA were trying to determine the cause of the crash.
Authorities withheld the name of the pilot last night pending confirmation from dental records and blood tests, but neighbors said they believed he was real estate developer J. Robert Martin, an aviator for 30 years and owner of the nearby Forest Hill Industrial Airpark, which is surrounded by homes.
A woman answering the phone at Martin's Forest Hill home declined to comment.
"He was exceptional," said Audrey Warfield, whose husband worked for Martin. She and her husband own the 2 1/2 -story house in the 2300 block of Rockspring Road that was clipped by the Czech-built Albatros. "There was nobody who could be a better pilot than this fellow."
Moments before the crash, "we heard this extremely loud noise, a loud roar directly over our roof," said Don Weber, manager of Hanley's Fitness Center, a gym that is one of several businesses in the Forest Hill Industrial Airpark, about a half-mile from the crash site.
"A couple of people looked out the window, and they saw it suddenly go down," Weber said. "They jumped into their cars and drove to where it crashed and saw just a charred patch of ground and debris scattered all over the place."
The sleek jet, registered to Bond Jet LLC in Wilmington, Del., was flying over the airpark about 11:15 a.m. when it pulled up and fish-tailed before taking a nose dive, witnesses told authorities.
As it descended, the plane hit the trunk of a tree and clipped a corner of the Warfields' home, ripping off a section of roof and wall and exposing a rear bedroom.
Mick Ziehl, who lives ...........................