Richmond Times Dispatch & AP
Published: April 28, 2008

Updated 4:35 p.m.

By MARK BOWES, LUZ LAZO AND JUAN ANTONIO LIZAMA
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS

Authorities this afternoon identified the pilot and passenger who died yesterday when a plane crashed into a house in Chesterfield County.

The pilot was Joseph Anthony Grana Jr. 40, Florham Park, N.J. The passenger was his father, Joseph Anthony Grana Sr., 73, of Richmond.

In a news conference this afternoon, Virginia State Police Sgt. Tom Cunningham said the son, an experienced pilot, had flown to Richmond Friday from the Essex, N.J., airport to attend a family event. Yesterday the father and son were planning to do some touch-and-go landings at an airport in Franklin.

Melissa Bowen, 22, was in the house that was hit by the plane. She made it out of the house but suffered life-threatening burns and was taken to VCU Medical Center. 

Cunningham said Grana family members issued a statement that said the “family’s thoughts and prayers are with the family of the burn victim....”

This afternoon, investigators were recovering the bodies of Grana Jr. and Grana Sr.
Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration are now trying to determine what caused the plane to crash shortly after takeoff from the Chesterfield County Airport about 5 miles away from the house.

The crash engulfed the house in flames but spared neighboring residences in the 3100 block of Woodsong Drive, about a half-mile from the intersection of Hull Street and Genito roads. Debris was strewn through the area.

No new information was available today on Bowen’s condition. She was listed yesterday in critical condition. A hospital spokeswoman said the family requested that no additional information be released.

Police were posted through the night to protect the scene and evidence. The plane, a Mooney Model M20M fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft built in 2000, is registered to RKJ Aero LLC in Wilmington, Del.

The crash occurred at 10:19 a.m. There may have been low clouds in the area during that time, but officials would not say if weather conditions played a role in the wreck.

Bowen’s sister, Christine Bowen, owns the home. But police did not know whether Melissa Bowen lived with her sister or was visiting. Christine Bowen left the home before the crash and returned shortly afterward to find her sister injured and the one-story home in flames.

Peter Heimsath, who lives across the street, said he received a terrified call from his stepdaughter, Nancy Plucinik, and raced home from church with his wife and stepson.

“As we came down Hull, we saw off to the left, above the trees, it looked like about a 100-foot plume of black smoke,” he said.

“The intensity level [of the flames], you can feel it across the street,” he said. “It was massive. The entire house was just engulfed in a sea of red.”

Plucinik was in front of the mirror in her room getting ready for church when she heard something that sounded like a drag-racing noise and then the explosion.

“The [window] blinds blew back,” she said. “I thought something was going to happen to our house.”

Plucinik frantically began calling her sister and stepfather and went outside, where a man was helping the injured woman and other people were on their cell phones calling people and taking pictures.

“I thought my life was in danger,” she said. “I’m glad that it didn’t hit me. But at the same time, I’m sorry for her.”

Chesterfield Fire and Emergency Medical Services Battalion Chief Robert Lukhard said that when fire crews arrived at the scene, the house was ablaze and Bowen was at a sidewalk, where she was being assisted by neighbors.

Bill Sammler, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said weather conditions in the area indicate that at the time of the crash, visibility may have been somewhere between 4 and 5 miles, which is considered good.

But the cloud base could have been very low, at 500 feet, Sammler said.

The low ceiling may have resulted in instrument flight rules being in effect, which require special pilot qualifications, he said. But the weather service does not have an observation station at the Chesterfield Airport, he said, and his estimate came from comparing conditions at Richmond International Airport and at Petersburg’s airport.

The conditions “could have been slightly different in Chesterfield,” Sammler said.

FAA and airport officials who could comment on the flight conditions could not immediately be reached. Cunningham said he could not answer questions on those elements of the investigation.

Contact Mark Bowes at

Contact Luz Lazo at .

Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at .

Staff photographer Clement Britt, staff writer Jamie C. Ruff and Deputy News Editor Tom Kapsidelis contributed to this report.

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Updated 4:09 p.m.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Authorities say the men who died in a Chesterfield County plane crash Sunday were a father and his son.
Joseph Anthony Grana Junior of Florham Park, New Jersey, was the pilot of the 2000 single-engine Mooney aicraft that crashed into a house Sunday morning and burst into flames. His father, 73-year-old Joseph Anthony Grana Senior of Richmond was a passenger.
Virginia State Police Sergeant Tom Cunningham said the 40-year-old pilot was in Richmond for a family event. He said the men took off from the Chesterfield County Airport for Franklin, Virginia, just before the crash occurred at about 10:20 a.m.
A woman in the house, 22-year-old Melissa Bowen, was taken to VCU Medical Center with serious burn injuries.
Cunningham said authorities were removing the remains of the father and son Monday afternoon.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.

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Updated 12:10 p.m.

Bodies of plane crash victims still on scene
Pilot and his passenger killed when the private plane smashed into a house; officials haven’t released victims’ names

Investigators said the bodies of two people who died yesterday in a plane crash in Chesterfield County are still at the scene. Authorities said thad to suspend operations at the end of the day yesterday because of darkness.

The victims’ names have not been released and likely won’t until be today, state police Sgt. Tom Cunningham said this morning.

Authorities investigating the crash are expected to give an update to the media this afternoon.

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration are at the scene this morning, working to determine what caused the plane to crash into a house shortly after takeoff from the Chesterfield County Airport. The pilot and a passenger were killed, and a woman at the home was badly injured.

The crash engulfed the house in flames but spared neighboring residences in the 3100 block of Woodsong Drive, about a half-mile from the intersection of Hull Street and Genito roads. Debris was strewn through the area.

The two on the plane, both males, died in the crash of the medium-sized, private aircraft that had originated its flight from the airport, which is about 5 miles away.

No new information was available today on the condition of Melissa Bowen, 22, who made it out of the house but suffered life-threatening burns and was taken to VCU Medical Center. She was listed yesterday in critical condition. A hospital spokeswoman said the family requested that no additional information be released.

Details about the victims’ flight were not immediately available from authorities because they were waiting to officially notify family members. A flight tracking Web site says the plane was bound for Franklin County.

Police were posted through the night to protect the scene and evidence. The plane, a Mooney Model M20M fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft built in 2000, is registered to RKJ Aero LLC in Wilmington, Del.

The crash occurred at 10:19 a.m. There may have been low clouds in the area during that time, but officials would not say if weather conditions played a role in the wreck.

Bowen’s sister, Christine Bowen, owns the home. But police did not know whether Melissa Bowen lived with her sister or was visiting. Christine Bowen left the home before the crash and returned shortly afterward to find her sister injured and the one-story home in flames.

Peter Heimsath, who lives across the street, said he received a terrified call from his stepdaughter, Nancy Plucinik, and raced home from church with his wife and stepson.

“As we came down Hull, we saw off to the left, above the trees, it looked like about a 100-foot plume of black smoke,” he said.

“The intensity level [of the flames], you can feel it across the street,” he said. “It was massive. The entire house was just engulfed in a sea of red.”

Plucinik was in front of the mirror in her room getting ready for church when she heard something that sounded like a drag-racing noise and then the explosion.

“The [window] blinds blew back,” she said. “I thought something was going to happen to our house.”

Plucinik frantically began calling her sister and stepfather and went outside, where a man was helping the injured woman and other people were on their cell phones calling people and taking pictures.

“I thought my life was in danger,” she said. “I’m glad that it didn’t hit me. But at the same time, I’m sorry for her.”

Chesterfield Fire and Emergency Medical Services Battalion Chief Robert Lukhard said that when fire crews arrived at the scene, the house was ablaze and Bowen was at a sidewalk, where she was being assisted by neighbors.

Bill Sammler, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said weather conditions in the area indicate that at the time of the crash, visibility may have been somewhere between 4 and 5 miles, which is considered good.

But the cloud base could have been very low, at 500 feet, Sammler said.

The low ceiling may have resulted in instrument flight rules being in effect, which require special pilot qualifications, he said. But the weather service does not have an observation station at the Chesterfield Airport, he said, and his estimate came from comparing conditions at Richmond International Airport and at Petersburg’s airport.

The conditions “could have been slightly different in Chesterfield,” Sammler said.

FAA and airport officials who could comment on the flight conditions could not immediately be reached. Cunningham said he could not answer questions on those elements of the investigation.
Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .

Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or .

Staff photographer Clement Britt, staff writer Jamie C. Ruff and Deputy News Editor Tom Kapsidelis contributed to this report.

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UPDATE Monday 5:27 a.m.

Melissa Bowen, 22, made it out of the house, but she suffered life-threatening burns and was taken to VCU Medical Center, said Sgt. Tom Cunningham of the Virginia State Police. She was listed in critical condition. A hospital spokeswoman said the family requested that no additional information be released.

Chesterfield Fire and Emergency Medical Services Battalion Chief Robert Lukhard said that when fire crews arrived at the scene, the house was ablaze and Bowen was at a sidewalk, where she was being assisted by neighbors.

Identifications of the two people aboard the plane, and details about their flight, were not immediately available from authorities because they were waiting to officially notify family members. It took firefighters about 45 minutes to go through the debris and locate the bodies.

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UPDATE 9:37 p.m.

State Police say the plane was a medium-sized private airplane. Police will not say where the plane was heading.

Bowen’s sister, Christine Bowen, owns the home. But police did not know whether Melissa Bowen lived with her sister, who had left the house briefly when the crash occurred, or was visiting. Christine Bowman returned to the home to find her sister injured after the crash.

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UPDATE 7:40 p.m.

State Police say 22-year-old Melissa Bowen, has life-threatening injuries.

They have not released the names of the two men on-board the plane that were killed.
--------------------------------

UPDATE 5:39 p.m.

State police say this afternoon that a 22-year-old Midlothian woman is in critical condition at VCU Medical Center with burns suffered when a plane crashed into her home, killing the pilot and a passenger.

The crash engulfed the house in flames, but did not damage neighboring residences in the 3100 block of Woodsong Drive, though debris was strewn in the area.

The pilot and a passenger, both males, died in the crash of the medium-size, private plane that had originated its flight from the nearby Chesterfield County Airport.

Melissa Bowen was taken to VCU Medical Center with life-threatening burn injuries, said Sgt. Tom Cunningham of the Virginia State Police.

Identifications of the two people aboard the plane, and details about their flight, were not immediately available.

The crash occurred about 10:19 a.m. in the neighborhood near the intersection of Hull Street and Genito Road in Chesterfield County.

An investigator from the Federal Aviation Administration arrived at the scene late this afternoon.

Peter Heimsath, who lives across the street from the house struck by the plane, said one person lived in the home and was being visited by a sister who was not at the residence at the time of the crash.

Heimsath said he was just leaving his church service when a family member called to say there had been an explosion across the street.

“From Hull Street I could see the black plumes of smoke billowing,” he said. “The house itself was a direct hit. There is debris of the plane strewn. . . . There’s a piece in our yard.”

The house is a one-story rambler that had been recently renovated, Heimsath said. He said there were charred remains of the wood framing.

Firefighters were still hosing hot spots early this afternoon.

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UPDATE 4:15 p.m.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia State Police say two people aboard
a small plane were killed when the aircraft crashed into a
Chesterfield County house.
Sgt. Tom Cunningham of the state police said one person in the
home was taken to VCU Medical Center with burn injuries.
Names of the victims were not immediately available.
The accident happened about 10:20 a.m. Sunday about 8 miles from
the Chesterfield County airport. The house was engulfed in flames
and debris was strewn through the neighborhood, but no other homes
appeared to be damaged.
A Chesterfield County Airport manager says the plane took off
from his airport moments before crashing.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

------------------------------

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Authorities and the Federal Aviation
Administration are investigating the crash of a small plane that
struck a Chesterfield County house.

Authorities have not released the name and condition of the
pilot. WTVR-TV in Richmond also reported at least one person inside
the home was taken to the burn center at VCU Medical Center.

The accident happened about 10:20 a.m. Sunday about 8 miles from
the Chesterfield County airport. It was not immediately known how
many people were aboard the plane when it crashed.

The home sits about 8 miles from the Chesterfield County
airport. An airport manager says the plane took off from his
airport moments before crashing.