Aircraft crashes into Austin office building
By AOPA ePublishing staff
A Piper Cherokee PA-28-236 crashed into an office building in Austin, Texas, Feb. 18. Law enforcement officials have stated that the aircraft was flown by owner Andrew Joseph Stack III.
“We at AOPA are deeply saddened by one individual’s self-destructive act in Austin, Texas, today, and hope that those hurt recover from their injuries quickly. We hope that the one individual not accounted for is found safe,” said AOPA President Craig Fuller.
“It is important in the days ahead that we not overreact to this isolated act of suicide by a deeply troubled person and jeopardize the ability of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding U.S. citizens to fly. We need to let the parallel accident and law enforcement investigations proceed and not rush to ill-informed judgments or precipitous actions.”
AOPA will continue to stay in touch with the FAA, Transportation Security Administration, and Department of Homeland Security officials.
According to FAA records, Stack held private pilot instrument and single and multi-engine ratings.
Shortly after the crash, the FAA issued a temporary flight restriction over the accident scene to maintain safety because of media flights. The agency later canceled the TFR because the area is located within Class C airspace, and all flights are in contact with ATC.
AOPA is fielding calls from the media and working to minimize speculation so that the facts can be reported.
http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2010/100218crash.html?WT.mc_id=100219epilot&WT.mc_sect=tts
We now know the IRS worker who was killed in the attack on an office building in Austin. He was Vernon Hunter, a 67-year old Revenue Office Manager. He was responsible for collections. His wife, Valerie also works for the IRS and was in the same building when the attack happened. They have six grown children who live outside of Austin and who are flying in to be with their mother.
Valerie Hunter says before yesterday, she had never heard the name Joseph Stack. He’s the man investigators say set fire to his own home before getting in a plane and flying it into the office building. Witnesses confirm it was a deliberate attack. They say the plane looked like it was “dive-bombing” the building that is next to a busy Austin freeway. Stack left behind a lengthy, obscenity-filled internet post expressing his frustration with the IRS. Within hours of the attack, several Facebook pages were created in support of Stack’s barbaric attack. Looking at the building and the surrounding area, it’s amazing more people were not killed or injured. Another person was also severely hurt in the attack, a worker for the Texas Comptroller’s office.
Stack’s wife has decided not to talk with the media at least for now. http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/02/19/victim-in-austin-plane-crash-identified/