Pilot Likely Suffered Heart Attack Before Crash In Alamogordo

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – A pilot likely suffered a heart attack before his airplane veered off a runway and crashed into an Alamogordo airport hangar, where he was found dead inside the cockpit, investigators said.

Donald H. Edwards, 71, of Arlington, Texas, a decorated Vietnam veteran, died in November at Alamogordo-White Sands Regional Airport. He was alone in a twin-engine 1967 Cessna 337C on a trip from Fort Worth, Texas, to Alamogordo, where he was to attend a reunion of the 49th Fighter Group at Holloman Air Force Base.

The airplane landed at the Alamogordo airport, went off a runway and crossed a median, parallel taxiway and parking ramp before crashing into the hangar, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The airplane’s rear engine was running at full power after the collision, the NTSB said. Edwards was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, serving from 1957 to 1977.

He had logged 3,912 flight hours in the military, 219 of which were the Cessna 0-2. The hours were acquired flying missions in Vietnam, the NTSB said. The Cessna 0-2 Skymaster, the military version of Cessna 337s, was used for reconnaissance missions.

Edwards had logged 5,672 hours of total flight time and was on his third flight in the Cessna 337 that crashed, the NTSB said. His Air Force decorations included the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with two silver stars, the NTSB said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)