An off-duty Vermont National Guard airman crashed a small private plane on a Lake Champlain island around noon Monday and left the scene with his passenger — another airman — apparently without calling police.
Local authorities found out about the badly damaged Piper PA-11 on Savage Island only after the pilot of another small plane noticed the wreckage six hours later while flying over the 207-acre island, according to Grand Isle County Sheriff Ray Allen.
That pilot radioed the tower at Burlington International Airport to report it. The tower staff contacted Vermont State Police, who in turn patched in Allen around 6 p.m.
Allen mobilized a massive response to what he thought was an active crash scene.
“There are lots of fire chiefs upset, myself included, along with other agencies, that this was an incident six hours old with no injuries — and nobody there,” Allen told Seven Days.
Had local authorities been alerted when the incident happened, an unnecessary large-scale response could have been prevented, Allen added. “This was a substantial amount of money and time wasted,” he said.
Federal regulations require a pilot involved in an accident to “immediately, and by the most expeditious means available, notify the nearest National Transportation Safety Board office.” The NTSB had a preliminary crash report on its website Thursday, but a spokesman could not say when the agency was notified.
Allen told Seven Days he contacted the FAA, along with the Milton Fire Department, and had six or seven boats from various agencies respond to the call. He even asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection to deploy a helicopter from its Plattsburgh, N.Y., base.
After Allen arrived at the scene and realized there was no emergency, he called off the helicopter. The island caretaker, Wayne Fisher, told Allen that the crash had happened around noon. Allen learned that Fisher had ferried the airmen off the island by boat and drove them to the Allenholm Airport, the small South Hero airstrip from which the duo had originally taken off.
Allen said the low water level exposed unseen obstacles that made it treacherous for the first responders to navigate the lake at night.
“By the time all resources were back in and my last boat came off the water, it was close to 8:30 p.m.,” Allen said.
Fisher told Seven Days that he had been in the basement of the island’s main house, then came upstairs and saw the damaged plane. It was on the grassy airstrip that runs through the private island, which is owned by members of the Riehle family.
The airmen were already out of the plane when Fisher reached it, according to the caretaker. They told him they were uninjured and that there hadn’t been any mechanical issues. Fisher said the pilot
claimed to have landed and then tried a complicated takeoff maneuver that failed, resulting in the crash.
“They did make several calls. I don’t know to whom and the nature of the calls but they made several calls,” Fisher said. “They never asked me to call cops. And I didn’t feel like it was my responsibility; it wasn’t my accident. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Pictures of the scene show the tiny plane nose-down in the field with a broken wing. The FAA describes the two-seat aircraft, built in 1947, as “destroyed.”
The plane is registered to John Rahill, a lieutenant colonel in the Vermont Air National Guard. He did not respond to a phone call requesting comment. In April, he told NECN about flying an F-16 over Fenway Park for the Red Sox home opener in Boston. And in October 2015, he talked to WCAX after returning from a four-month stint in the Pacific. The deployment was his eighth overseas since joining the Vermont Air National Guard 15 years prior, Rahill told the station at the time.
The Guard issued a statement Tuesday confirming the crash involved airmen and said no further information would be released because of the FAA investigation.
“We appreciate the concern from the community and are happy that neither of our airmen were injured and are currently back at work,” the statement said.
Because no serious injury occurred, the NTSB will rely on information from the FAA “and/or the operator, and will not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report,” the board says on its website.
The FAA did not come out to the scene, Fisher told Seven Days, but interviewed him by phone.
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You would think that every pilot, let alone a National Guard airman, would know the law about reporting a crash “immediately, and by the most expeditious means available.”
So, what went on here?
And why was this airman landing on a private island — trespassing — anyway?
And who is going to pay for that unnecessary large scale rescue op? Bill the airman, please.
And the totaled airplane? The airman apparently just left it on a private island for someone else to deal with?
Hey Carol,
OMGBECKY, not sure why you take offense to legitimate questions that I am sure many people are asking.
An F-16 pilot who flies jets over our community crashed an airplane apparently due to pilot error. Sounds pretty newsworthy to me.
What is going on here, and why hasn’t the FAA reported on their investigation into this mishap? Two VT Guard airmen, at least one who is an F16 pilot, crash a private plane and then sneak away from the crash without telling anyone and initiating an intense emergency response for no reason? Of course they should know better, which begs the question of what kind of cover-up is going on, and why? Did alcohol/drugs play a role? Thank you Sasha Goldstein and Seven Days for reporting on this. Other local media outlets have been suspiciously silent and non-responsive about reporting on what seems to be quite an aviation regulation offense.
There is still a lot of unknowns here–who did they call? I hope that Seven Days will follow through on this report.
One can’t help but wonder if the pilot of the aircraft was attempting to protect his reputation and legal flying status with the Air National Guard, by not reporting this incident? It is irresponsible at the very least, and quite possible he skirted FAA regulations.
Yikes. And they want to fly F35s?
General Cray has a responsibility to the public to demand accountability and transparency. This incident unreported, placed first responders at risk, and cost taxpayers money. The FAA was contacted, no reason to withhold names of the Airman. Even incidents with death resulting name those involved. This is not credible. VTANG must release name and rank and action to be taken to restore confidence. The cover up as bad as the incident. If no wrong doing, why the secrecy?
So much for the integrity of one of the VTANG F-16 pilots and a Lt. Colonel at that. I hope this incident is not covered up and he pays restitution for all the services and man hours that were needed to follow through on this accident AND let’s hope he is are not one of the designated fliers of the F-35’s….
Everybody here is jumping off the deep end thinking there was a legal responsibility for the pilot to call the police. There was NOT. He had to notify the NTSB, which it seems he did. He notified the FAA by calling the air traffic controller, which he didn’t technically need to do. The FAA controller notified the police. The police, well intentioned to be sure, responded in full force to a non-event. I would have hoped that the FAA air traffic controller at BTV, who would have been well aware that there were no injuries, would have helped the police size the response, or call off the response, appropriately.
Think of an analogy; You are out riding a 4WD jeep off-road and you swerve and hit a tree, totalling your jeep but you are uninjured. You’re not on the road, you’re on private land. You didn’t break any law. You’re happy to be unhurt. The police get wind “there’s been a crash” and show up in full force. Is that your fault? You didn’t need them, didn’t ask for them, and didn’t have any responsibility to call them. Now everyone is on your case, thinking you should pay for it all. Non-pilots don’t understand that an airplane like this is essentially a type of off-road ATV.
Once again, a failure to communicate effectively to be sure. But stop casting unwarranted aspersions at a pilot who contacted who he was supposed to.
And the airplane was recovered. It’s on an island! What did you expect him to do immediately after… call AAA for a tow truck?
The pilot of the crashed plane did NOT contact the tower or the authorities, if you read the article correctly. The pilot of another plane noticed the crash…six hours later…and radioed it in to the tower.
A full investigation needs to happen here. There are way too many unanswered questions. For a pilot not to notify the authorities or the FAA is very bizarre.
What this VTANG flyboy did is called ‘screwing the pooch’ in military aviation jargon and it knocks them right off the Right Stuff pyramid when they do it so that’s why he skulked off the island with his tail between his legs
What article are you reading, Redtop? The airman did not notify anyone. Another plane noticed the crashed plane and called it in. As most everyone else had said, it would be very interesting to learn why this airman did not call in his crash as required by law to do so.
This guy definitely screwed up and the full story should be further investigated & reported. I would expect VTANG will discipline him and come forth with more details shortly.
Let’s not forget the majority of the people serving in the National Guard are outstanding people who are there for our country and as neighbors when we need them. If you talk privately with lower-level VTANG people, some agree the F-35 basing decision has been corrupt and lacking in the transparency demanded of our public officials. They cannot speak out for fear of losing their jobs. They do not all hew to the official line coming from the PR spin-meisters at the top intent on jamming it down the throats of Chittenden County regardless of the questions asked from Winooski, South Burlington, etc.
I’ve even heard some members of VTANG OK with a hypothetical relocation of the Green Mt. Boys to the Northeast Kingdom & Newport’s soon to be expanded airport. Closer to the outdoors, cheaper housing costs, less traffic, etc. What is driving the basing decision is more corrupt local politics than anything (another reason why the supposedly integrity-filled Bernie Sanders said not a peep about the F-35 other than expressing his full support).
You’re right on the money, Chris. John Rahill (the pilot who crashed), lives in a million-dollar lakefront home in Burlington, according to the City’s property database. His wife’s postings on Front Porch Forum advocating for the F-35, and disparaging anyone who raises concerns, are well known. Lower level VTANG members can’t afford such posh lodgings.
What’s most humorous is that Savage Island, where the plane crashed, is owned by the Riehle family. And Helen Riehle is the current South Burlington City Council Chair. Helen has been a diplomatic leader in trying to get more information from the Guard in the F-35 basing decision, the F35s safety, and argued that the process has been apparently flawed. No way does Rahill want to land on their island…especially a CRASH landing.
I offer sincere gratitude for first responders’ prompt and professional response. In that spirit, I respectfully present a diverse view, based on the same article.
According to the article… ‘Federal regulations require a pilot involved in an accident to “immediately, and by the most expeditious means available, notify the nearest National Transportation Safety Board office.” The NTSB had a preliminary crash report on its website Thursday, but a spokesman could not say when the agency was notified.’
The article also states ““They [pilots] did make several calls. I don’t know to whom and the nature of the calls but they made several calls,” Fisher said.”
Perhaps the pilot failed to notify NTSB… or maybe the “calls” could have been the required NTSB notifications. According to the article, that would satisfy the pilot’s legal obligations. It is possible that NTSB doesn’t share data with local law enforcement. Again, the first responders performed heroically, given the situation.
It would be easy for me to criticize someone who arguably did their best to handle an emergency–self-induced or not. Given that same situation, I might not have done as well. I recently saw the movie “Sully” depicting the pilot’s split second reactions during an airplane crash in which everyone walks away. Regardless of your political leanings, it is important to recognize that this crash resulted in no injuries and no measurable damage to property, other than the aircraft itself. That’s worth something.
Several local families are lucky and relieved to have their loved ones back safely home—pilots and first responders. I will choose to wait for the FAA to finish their investigation and try to learn lessons for future application. I will keep loved ones out of the discussion. I offer these thoughts in the spirit of intellectual diversity.