Plane Lands in WaWa Parking Lot in Fredericksburg Va

Free Lance - Star (Fredericksburg Va) ^ | 12 August 2013 | Free Lance - Star (Fredericksburg Va)

[mbarker12474]

August 12th, 2013, 6:22 am Plane lands in Wawa parking lot near Shannon Airport

Photo by Dave Ellis

UPDATE: Police have identified the pilot in Monday morning’s crash landing at Shannon Airport as Jerome Matthew Orlando, a 33-year-old from Broadway, Va., the same area of the company that owns the plane, according to records.

Virginia State Police Sgt. Les Tyler said Orlando flew out of Tampa, Fla., and was headed to Charlottesville, but was diverted because of the weather. There was a thick fog in the area this morning, even where the crash happened.

The plane was supposed to go to Stafford Regional Airport, but Orlando tried to land at Shannon Airport because he was low on fuel, said Tyler. Police didn’t say why Orlando landed the plane about 100 yards from the airport runway.

Orlando was not injured in the crash landing.

State police Trooper B. Dunn conducted the initial investigation. Federal Aviation Administration investigators will take over the case once they arrive at the scene.

UPDATE: The Virginia State Police aren’t saying what caused the “emergency landing” that left a 1968 Piper airplane in a grass island next to the Wawa convenience store off of Routes 2 and 17 in Spotsylvania at 5:50 a.m. Monday. They said the pilot was not injured. They have not yet released his name.

State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said the investigation is ongoing.

Tire tracks could be seen in a field between Shannon Airport hangers and two buildings, one of which is the Rappahannock United Way next to Wawa. The plane careened through the United Way parking lot, knocking off the top of a mailbox, jumped over a ditch, skidded through a paved entry/exit to Wawa and ended up in the grass island near the two-lane road, where a steady stream of traffic passed the scene this morning.

The pilot somehow dodged light poles and trees in the crash landing. But he missed the airport runway by about a hundred yards. Frank Hammon of WFLS News reportsthat the pilot forgot to fuel his plane before taking off.

United Way employees showed up for work at about 8 a.m. to find the damaged mailbox in the parking lot and the plane still resting in the grass nearby. Like many of Wawa’s customers, they gawked at the scene and snapped pictures with their cell phones.

Sarah Walsh has been with United Way for nine years. She said in the past things had been safe, but in “the last year we’ve seen a few accidents.”

It’s made her “a little nervous.”

Monday’s incident is the third plane crash at Shannon since September. The other two crashes were fatal.

On Sept. 29, 2012, Stafford County residents John Morton Jr., 48, and his 13-year-old son, Kyle, died when the Cessna they were in plummeted into the ground in the River Heights mobile-home park near the airport. The National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that pilot error caused the crash, noting that John Morton had alcohol in his system.

Edwin G. Hassel, a 22-year-old Spotsylvania resident, died in a crash at the airport last month. Initial reports indicated that Hassel had threatened suicide before the single-engine Cessna slammed into the ground and burst into flames next to the runway on July 22.

According to The Free Lance–Star’s archives, the other most recent fatal crash at Shannon Airport happened in 2006.

According to records, the plane in Monday’s crash is owned by Virginia Aircraft Rentals in Broadway, Va.

Along with the state police, the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate Monday’s crash.

ORIGINAL POST

Authorities are investigating the landing of an airplane in the parking lot of a Wawa store near Shannon Airport.

Frank Hammon of WFLS News reports that the pilot forgot to fuel his plane before taking off.

“The pilot was leaving Shannon Airport south of Fredericksburg when he realized his mistake and put the aircraft down in the parking lot of a nearby Wawa store on Tidewater Trail,” Hammon reports.

No injuries were reported.

[DYngbld]

"...the same area of the company that owns the plane, according to records."

"There was a thick fog in the area this morning, even where the crash happened."

Huh?

I was think the same thing. Fine journalism here. The whole article makes little sense. Did he forget to fuel the plane, or was he flying the Charlottesville from Tampa, and get diverted to Stafford?

I have gotten coffee in that Wawas on a few occasions. I will now be on the lookout for very low flying aircraft.

[RegulatorCountry]

Wa Wa? What the heck is that, a baby water store.

[llevrok]

regnad kcin

[Rio]

Emergency landing in what looks like pretty thick fog - he’s lucky to be alive.
Yep. Collapsed all the landing gear which means prop-strike, so the engine is toast. Quite a mess.

[nascarnation]

sadly we cant see the OBAMA sticker on the plane due to the fog cover

Unlikely, Baraqqi crony capitalists have jets, not small prop jobs.

[cornfedcowboy]

Great store though with very good coffee.

[DYngbld]

Wawa is a gas station/convenience store. (Like Sheets if you have those)

Who can get sandwiches made to order, a large variety of coffee, and sodas. Usually have the best price on gas.

I believe the original owners of company, are Lakota Indian. Wawa is goose in Lakota, and there is a goose in the logo. Still it is a silly name for gas station.

The irony is apparently he needed gas. I think that Wawas has about ten pumps.

[TruthWillWin]

One of the reasons a preflight inspection is done (manually checking fuel in both tanks is on the list).

[FlJoePa]

WaWa has great coffee. They are rapidly expanding into FL - Orlando and the west coast.

[Claud]

Wawa is Ojibwe/Chippewa, not Lakota, but yep, it’s the word for “goose”.

Sounds silly to non- Mid-Atlantic folks I know, but I can’t hear the name without my mouth watering. Mmmmm....hoagies.

[null and void]

Frank Hammon of WFLS News reports that the pilot forgot to fuel his plane before taking off.

Good pre-flight, geniuos [sic]!

[tirednvirginia]

They also have tasty hoagies! Lol

[null and void]

How did he know? Did it take full power to taxi in?

[DYngbld]

Wawa is Ojibwe/Chippewa, not Lakota, but yep, it’s the word for “goose”.

Sounds silly to non- Mid-Atlantic folks I know, but I can’t hear the name without my mouth watering. Mmmmm....hoagies.

I was trying to remember what tribe it was, I stand corrected. :)

The closest one to me is in Short Pump. The one with the new lawn ornament is about an hour away.

Dang, now I need some lunch.

[USMCPOP]

If I needed gas at 5:50 in the morning in Fredericksburg (and maybe something for breakfast), I’d head for WaWa, too.

[bmwcyle]

Nothing beats the checklist. God is your co-pilot but you still need the checklist.

[Claud]

Its always confusing to me, because I keep thinking it should be Lenape! The Ojibwe didn’t live anywhere near Wawa, PA.

And would “Cohonks” be any worse a name? ;)

[Albion Wilde]

I see these places in PA when I go there. Worst name EVER.

Not to natives of the area it isn't. The first dairy farm that started the business, and now its corporate headquarters, is located in the town of Wawa, Pennsylvania. The town of Wawa was named before the USA began, in the language of the Leni Lenape Indians native to the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley region. It means "wild goose", apparently the sound a goose makes flying over. Hence, the company's logo:

Old logo before redesign in 2004:

Best. Coffee. Ever. And -- fresh Philly soft pretzels with mustard every day, and hoagies, TastyCakes, and Goldenberg's Peanut Chews -- all Philadelphia delights. I was ecstatic when the chain started moving into Maryland and Virginia!

[TheRhinelander]

That explains it. Thank you!

[GeronL]

Well, he knows where the gas is sold anyways