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plane crash near Reston Int'l Center, 1977 or 1978
Date: August 18, 2010 04:48PM

Please post or PM anything you know or have heard about it/the family, either then or since. We knew the family at the time but can't remember their name. Don't know if the house was rebuilt.

Was 1977 or 1978, during a school day - lunchtime to early afternoon. Small plane was trying to land at Dulles in fog (so probably fall or early spring). Pilot ended up crashing on Indian Ridge Road, across Sunset Hills from the International Center. Crash leveled a house and killed the residents, who were at home having lunch. Daughter (think there was just one) was at elementary school at the time. Pilot was killed in the crash. At least one other house was damaged.

Thanks for any additional info, such as a date or address or names.

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Re: plane crash near Reston Int'l Center, 1977 or 1978
Posted by: Swifty ()
Date: August 19, 2010 06:42AM

This accident happened November 11th 1977. It was a Piper PA-23... departed from Columbus OH en roue to Dulles when it crashed into what has been recorded on record as a "townhouse" at 2:12pm. Only a single fatality is listed (ground fatalities are typically accounted for in the totals), so I'm not so sure on the accuracy of the rest of the story. Must have been a late lunch. I searched the Washington Post archives and didn't find any related news stories. What other papers existed around here at the time?

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=11881

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Re: plane crash near Reston Int'l Center, 1977 or 1978
Posted by: Swifty ()
Date: August 19, 2010 06:43AM

I stand corrected, it was November 30th not the 11th. Need my coffee.

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Re: plane crash near Reston Int'l Center, 1977 or 1978
Posted by: Swifty ()
Date: August 19, 2010 06:52AM

Now that I got my dates right I found some additional info. 2 people DID die on the ground, a young couple named Susan and Harry Ottinger. If you use the archive search on washingtonpost.com and search for articles with "plane" in the title for Dec 1-2 you will find 2 articles on the incident.

Good luck!

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Re: plane crash near Reston Int'l Center, 1977 or 1978
Posted by: RestonMama ()
Date: June 24, 2011 08:34PM

Found an article about the orphaned girl you mentioned...here's an excerpt. At washingtonpost.com in the archive section, you can search for the article using key words and buy the full text.

Girl Orphaned by Crash Wins $750,000
The Washington Post (1974-Current file) - Washington, D.C.
Author: By Madeline Lewis Washington Post Staff Writer

Date: Dec 5, 1979
Start Page: C1
Pages: 1
Section: METRO FEDERAL DIARY OBITUARIES CLASSIFIED
Text Word Count: 359

An 8-year-old girl who was orphaned in 1977 when her parents were killed in a spectacular plane crash in Reston will receive $750,000 under a settlement reached yesterday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

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Re: plane crash near Reston Int'l Center, 1977 or 1978
Posted by: Mani ()
Date: June 11, 2012 11:23PM

Please see the link for a news paper article with photo of the crash site I found in Google archives. http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=11881

Hope this helps you all.

Thanks
Mani

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Re: plane crash near Reston Int'l Center, 1977 or 1978
Date: June 12, 2012 07:59AM

Thanks for the info and links.

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