Venice Man, 73, Dies in Oak Hill Plane Crash

Date Added: November 16, 2022 10:56 am

VENICE MAN, 73, DIES IN PLANE CRASH IN OAK HILL

A 73-year-old man from Venice died Tuesday shortly after the single-engine airplane he was flying hit a tree in front of a home at 1779 Maytown Road in Oak Hill.

The victim, Charles Alban, had just traded planes with another pilot for the plane he was operating, a Taylor Monoplane (experimental/homemade).

Witnesses told sheriff’s deputies that around 3:35 p.m., Alban taxied the plane several times at Blue Ridge Flightpark Airport, a private facility on Maytown Road. Once he got comfortable with the plane, Alban headed south on the airstrip and planned to fly home to Venice.

However, the plane did not appear to climb into the air and suddenly veered left for unknown reasons, hitting the tree. Alban was transported to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries and died of his injuries just before 5 p.m.

Sheriff’s detectives responding to the scene advised that preliminarily, nothing appeared suspicious about the aircraft. Additionally, they searched the runway where it appears the aircraft veered off course but did not locate anything that might have caused the crash.

The investigation has been turned over to the NTSB and FAA; an NTSB representative arrived at the scene early today.