North Central State Airport – April 21, 1986
Smithfield, Rhode Island
At 12:30 p.m. on April 21, 1986, a Cessna 310 (N128K), left Willow Run Airport in Michigan bound for North Central Airport in Smithfield, R.I., to make a delivery for a company located in North Smithfield.
At 3:28 p.m. the pilot took off for his return flight, and according to witnesses, circled the airport area twice before suddenly diving nose-first onto a rocky outcrop about 600 feet from the north-south runway. The plane exploded on impact killing the 23-year-old pilot.
One witness from a business located on Albion Road told a Woonsocket Call reporter, “It made a low pass over our shop the first time it came by. The engines sounded okay. I just thought the pilot was disoriented. When it came by low again the second time, it was flipped over on it side, and when it went over the fence (separating Albion Road from the airport) it was completely flipped over and no where near where it should have been approaching from.”
Sources:
Woonsocket Call, “Michigan Pilot Killed In Fiery No. Central Crash”, April 22, 1986
NTSB report NYC86FA112, microfiche # 32967
