Posted 10:12 am Friday, February 10, 2012
Divers Comb Lake Palestine For Plane, Missing Pilot
By EMILY GUEVARA
Staff Writer
A search operation will continue today for a pilot missing since Wednesday after divers located the aircraft in Lake Palestine but not the person inside.
The pilot was last seen Wednesday when his single engine Varga took off from a Jacksonville fueling station about 10:40 a.m., officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
That aircraft is registered to Fred Scholz, of Anderson County, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. DPS officials, however, declined to provide the identity of the pilot they are looking for. Friends and neighbors, though, said they believe Scholz is the missing pilot.
Dive crews found the Varga in Blackburn Bay on Lake Palestine and the FAA positively identified the tail number as the plane in question, but the pilot was not inside.
Staff Writer
A search operation will continue today for a pilot missing since Wednesday after divers located the aircraft in Lake Palestine but not the person inside.
The pilot was last seen Wednesday when his single engine Varga took off from a Jacksonville fueling station about 10:40 a.m., officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
That aircraft is registered to Fred Scholz, of Anderson County, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. DPS officials, however, declined to provide the identity of the pilot they are looking for. Friends and neighbors, though, said they believe Scholz is the missing pilot.
Dive crews found the Varga in Blackburn Bay on Lake Palestine and the FAA positively identified the tail number as the plane in question, but the pilot was not inside.
DPS Trooper Lynn Hubert said a team is expected to begin working about 8 a.m. today to get the plane out of the water.
The search operation for the pilot also will continue.
Hubert said there was no indication as to what caused the two-seat aircraft with a plexi-glass cockpit cover to crash into the lake just moments from the airstrip in the Aero Estates community of Berryville, which was its destination.
Hubert said the door hatch of the plane was open and the seatbelts released inside, which led officials to believe the pilot did get out.
However, Hubert said the water temperature had to be quite cold and the plane crashed about 250 yards from shore.
A neighbor told DPS officials the plane was up to code. Hubert said he was uncertain whether the pilot had a medical condition that could have contributed to the crash.
The search operation for the pilot also will continue.
Hubert said there was no indication as to what caused the two-seat aircraft with a plexi-glass cockpit cover to crash into the lake just moments from the airstrip in the Aero Estates community of Berryville, which was its destination.
Hubert said the door hatch of the plane was open and the seatbelts released inside, which led officials to believe the pilot did get out.
However, Hubert said the water temperature had to be quite cold and the plane crashed about 250 yards from shore.
A neighbor told DPS officials the plane was up to code. Hubert said he was uncertain whether the pilot had a medical condition that could have contributed to the crash.
The FAA had the fuel shut off at the Jacksonville station where the pilot stopped before heading back to his home. This was done as a precaution and to allow FAA officials to check the fuel supply and make sure it was not bad, Hubert said.
News of the crash and missing resident spread quickly through the small aviation-centered community in Berryville.
About 90 people belong to the Property Owners Association of Aero Estates and many consider East Texas a winter home.
News of the crash and missing resident spread quickly through the small aviation-centered community in Berryville.
About 90 people belong to the Property Owners Association of Aero Estates and many consider East Texas a winter home.
That was the case for Scholz and his wife, whose friends and neighbors said live in northern Illinois during the summer months.
The couple only have lived in the Aero Estates community for a few years, having occupied a lake house nearby while they had their home and hangar built, friends said.
Scholz, a former member of the U.S. Navy, had a plane that paid tribute to his military history, his neighbors said. Painted a reddish-orange on the front and rear with a large white strip sandwiched in the middle it had the word “Navy” printed on it, they said.
A friend who asked to be referred to only as Tom said Scholz is a “very meticulous pilot” and trained aircraft mechanic.
Tom said the man is in his mid-80s and good health, “something I could hope to be like.”
He said the pilot attends Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Tyler with his wife.
“You're that close …” Tom said shaking his head as he and a handful of other neighbors watched the search operation with binoculars in hand. “What a shame.”
The couple only have lived in the Aero Estates community for a few years, having occupied a lake house nearby while they had their home and hangar built, friends said.
Scholz, a former member of the U.S. Navy, had a plane that paid tribute to his military history, his neighbors said. Painted a reddish-orange on the front and rear with a large white strip sandwiched in the middle it had the word “Navy” printed on it, they said.
A friend who asked to be referred to only as Tom said Scholz is a “very meticulous pilot” and trained aircraft mechanic.
Tom said the man is in his mid-80s and good health, “something I could hope to be like.”
He said the pilot attends Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Tyler with his wife.
“You're that close …” Tom said shaking his head as he and a handful of other neighbors watched the search operation with binoculars in hand. “What a shame.”
