GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on a midair collision and plane crash in Clay County that killed one pilot and seriously injured a second.
According to the report, Bob Woolley, 74, and Dave Dollarhide, 77, both took off in separate planes to fly maneuvers. They completed the maneuvers, and Dollarhide radioed Woolley, saying he was flying back to Haller Air Park.
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There was no response, the report said. Dollarhide started a right turn, and then saw Woolley fly under him. Woolley was close enough that Dollarhide could see Woolley in the cockpit seconds before the planes collided.
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Dollarhide told investigators he saw Woolley's plane going down and realized his propeller was bent in the collision.
Woolley died in the crash. Dollarhide managed to put his plane down in a cow pasture near the Clay County Fairgrounds. He was seriously injured.
According to the report, investigators found impacts and red paint transfers on both wings of Dollarhide's plane from the collision. A landing strut on the plane was broken and both propeller blades were bent.
Woolley's plane broke apart when it crashed, the report said, but investigators found a three-foot tire skid mark and yellow paint transfers on the rudder and tail assembly of Woolley's plane.
Both pilots had recently passed medical exams. Dollarhide had more than 17,000 civil flight hours. Woolley had more than 3,000 civil flight hours.