Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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October 11, 2009

Three survive plane crash

By BILL ARCHER

ROSEDALE, Va. — Three members of a Kentucky family who were flying from Lunkin County Airport near Cincinnati, Ohio to Charleston, S.C., Saturday evening narrowly escaped serious injury when the small aircraft they were flying crashed on Clinch Mountain in Russell County near Laurel Bed Lake.

Robert Lonneman, 60, of Edgewood, Ky., was piloting a 1974 Piper 160 Cherokee Saturday afternoon when he encountered a fog bank, according to Trooper C.D. Vance of the Virginia State Police. “He was flying at about 3,000 feet, and tried to get around the fog when he started hitting trees,” Vance said. “The aircraft cut through the tree tops and got caught in some vines that slowed it down and brought it down to the ground.”

Virginia State Police dispatchers received the call concerning the downed aircraft at 4:13 p.m., Saturday night. Russell County, Va., authorities initiated the search in the vicinity of Laurel Bed Lake, near Rosedale in the Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area. Clinch Mountain is 3,600 feet in elevation at the site of the man-made mountain top lake that is maintained by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

According to Vance, Lonneman, his wife, Cynthia Lonneman, 56, and their daughter, Teresa Lonneman, 25, of Covington, Ky., managed to get out of the wreckage. The plane went down approximately 600-700 feet from the top of the mountain, due south of Rosedale, Vance said.

“The daughter retrieved some personal belongings from the aircraft, and came walking down the mountain in search of help. She marked the path back to the crash site by hanging clothing in the trees along the way,” Vance said. “She ran into the Russell County authorities at about 7:30 p.m.”

Vance said that all three family members were transported to Russell County Medical Center in Lebanon, Va. “Cynthia was later taken to Johnson City Medical Center by ground transport,” Vance said.

Robert Lonneman was co-owner of the aircraft along with Gary L. Muzziloo, also of Edgewood. Ky. Vance assisted investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration who visited the crash site and were collecting information for their report Sunday afternoon.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

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