FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Police say a father and his son have died in the weekend crash of a single-engine plane in Virginia's Spotsylvania County.
Virginia State Police say the Cessna 150M had just taken off from Shannon Airport on Saturday evening when it plummeted to the ground, striking a tree. The plane fell in a mobile home park but no homes were hit and no one on the ground was hurt.
Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said in a release that 48-year-old John B. Morton Jr. and his 13-year-old son Kyle J. Morton, of Stafford, died. She said the father was conducting takeoffs and landings at the airport, which only serves small plans and no commercial flights.
Police said federal authorities are investigating at the site about 75 miles southwest of Washington.
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FROM STATE POLICE:
SPOTSYLVANIA CO. – Two Stafford County residents are dead following a plane crash in Spotsylvania County Saturday evening (Sept. 29). At 5:14 p.m., Virginia State Police Sr. Trooper R.L. Barham was called to the scene of the crash in the 11000 block of Carrie Court.
John B. Morton Jr., 48, of Stafford, had been working on the Cessna 150M single-engine plane and conducting take-offs and landings from Shannon Airport. During one of these exercises, the plane suddenly fell from the sky and crashed landed, striking a tree off of Carrie Court.
There was no fire or hazmat situation associated with the crash. No structures or residences on the ground were struck; nor was anyone on the ground injured.
Morton and his son, Kyle J. Morton, 13, of Stafford, both died at the scene. Their remains have been transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond for examination and autopsy.
The NTSB and FAA both arrived on the scene Saturday night to conduct their own investigations into the incident. The state police investigation into the cause of the crash remains ongoing at this time.
State police has secured the scene overnight, as investigators will return in the morning to further their investigations.
