JACKSON TOWNSHIP — Recordings from air traffic controllers and 911 calls paint a vivid picture of the moments leading up to and after a plane crash that claimed the life of its pilot in early May.
Gary Wolfelt, 72, died when his Express 2000 FT, a single-engine plane, crashed into woods southeast of Polk.
Investigators with the National Transportation and Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have since removed the wreckage. The NTSB has said it will release more information about the crash in the coming weeks and months.
Wolfelt departed Burke Lakefront Airport on May 5 at 6:56 p.m., according to air traffic chatter and flight tracking data.
Listen to Wolfelt’s conversation with an air traffic controller at Burke below.
Burke (BKL), situated on 250 acres along Lake Erie just east of downtown Cleveland, is a regional airport that handles about 100 flights daily and 40,000 every year.
It’s hard to make out the conversation Wolfelt had with air-traffic controllers minutes before takeoff.
To Jeff Gorman, a pilot based in Mansfield, the conversation appeared to point to some confusion on which runway to use, based on codes used to determine the direction of takeoff.
When I heard the conversation he had with Mansfield (Lahm Airport), I looked at my wife and said, ‘I don’t think he made it.’
Jeff Gorman, Executive Chairman of the Board at Gorman-Rupp
Gorman served as Gorman-Rupp’s CEO and president. He currently serves as the Mansfield-based international pump manufacturer’s executive chairman of the board.
But he’s also flown planes for roughly 50 years. He owns small planes, and, though he doesn’t fly nearly as often as he used to, the 73 year-old maintains his licensure.
He often listens to air traffic radio chatter. That’s what he was doing on May 5, as he sat down to dinner with his wife.
“When I heard the conversation he had with Mansfield (Lahm Airport), I looked at my wife and said, ‘I don’t think he made it,'” Gorman said.
Here’s what the weather radar looked like before Wolfelt took off from Burke on May 5.
It’s a rough flight up here.
Gary Wolfelt
At around 7:35 p.m., Wolfelt was in the middle of a storm.
At 7:16 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for portions of Medina, Ashland and Lorain counties.
By 7:30 p.m., the NWS in Wooster reported a “thunderstorm in vicinity” with light rain, fog and mist.
A Mansfield air traffic controller called out to Wolfelt, using the plane’s “519EA” call sign at 7:37 p.m. and referring to the letters with the NATO phonetic alphabet for radio communications.
Here are the words exchanged over the radio just minutes before the crash. MFD refers to the code signifying Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport. ATC refers to another air traffic controller based elsewhere.
MFD
(7:37:20 p.m.): “How’s your ride up there at 3,800 (feet) and do you need any assistance?”
Wolfelt
(7:37:22 p.m.): “It’s a rough flight up here. Uh — I got myself in a mess. I’m gonna try and land here at the next airport.
MFD
(7:37:41 p.m.): “Roger. Just from what I’m looking at, as far as the weather, right now — are you trying to get back into Ashland?”
Wolfelt
(7:37:47 p.m.): “3 Golf 4.”
(Wolfelt referenced Ashland County Airport’s FAA identifier, 3G4. He used the NATO phonetic word for “G.”)
MFD
(7:37:48)
“OK … do you have it in sight? It looks like now you’re kinda turning. Do you need a vector?”
(In aviation, a vector is essentially a navigational direction that air traffic controllers provide to pilots to ensure safety.)
Wolfelt
(7:37:55 p.m.): “I don’t think so. I’m just gonna have a helluva time controlling this airplane is all.”
MFD
(7:38:00 p.m.): “OK. It’s OK. So if you can, I’m gonna put you on a different frequency because this is Cleveland, I’m gonna put you on Cleveland.”
(Background chatter)
“OK. They’re suggesting a heading of 140 if you can. So we’re gonna try to get you out of that weather.”
(In aviation, a 140 heading refers to a direction, measured in degrees from North, or 0°. Specifically, the air traffic controllers were attempting to get Wolfelt to turn 140 degrees, a direction slightly east of south.)
ATC
(7:38:21): “Five one nine echo alpha, Cleveland air approach yet?”
MFD
(7:38:25 p.m.): “Nine Echo Alpha, you still with me?”
Silence.
ATC
(7:38:37 p.m.): “Five one nine echo alpha, Cleveland approach (unintelligible).”
MFD
(7:38:40 p.m.): “… south bound. It looks like that’s where the weather isn’t as prevalent.”
Silence.
MFD
(7:38:53 p.m.): “Echo Alpha, if you hear me, just don’t — northbound looks like it’s very — it has some severe weather up there. If you can go southbound, we’ll get you out of that weather. And then yeah, Ashland — Cleveland can give you vectors to Ashland.”
MFD
(7:39:15 p.m.): “… if you hear Mansfield, it’s OK — you just fly the plane. If you can, I’m going to show you … our (unintelligible) here is 2 niner niner six. I show you at 2,600, and I’m showing you at about northbound right now.”
Silence.
Listen to the entire conversation Wolfelt had with air traffic controllers below.
Somewhere between 7:37 and 7:40 p.m., Wolfelt’s plane crashed.
Melinda Meyer called 911 at 7:40 p.m., telling a dispatcher she had just “watched a plane go down.”
“We heard a kaboom,” she said. “I was trying to figure out what was going on with that plane and I come out and look and watched it come straight down to the ground.”
What’s known so far
We are still early in the investigative process, which will be led by the NTSB.
The NTSB will produce a preliminary report within 30 days and a factual report will follow in up to 18 months. After that, the agency will publish a final report, which will initiate a 60- to 90-day deadline for the five-member safety board to issue a “statement of probable cause,” Gunther said.
Gunther said the wreckage didn’t show any evidence of “in-flight structural failure, fire or explosion.” Gunther also said there was no evidence of a fire after the crash, but noted the plane did have fuel in the tank and the scene emitted a strong odor of fuel.
“Both fuel tank caps are in place,” he said. “Which indicates that the tanks may have ruptured on impact.
He noted the plane’s emergency locator transmitter had not been used. The ELT is a battery-powered device that transmits a distress signal. It can be automatically activated or manually activated by survivors.
“No ELT was received by any ground station or by satellite,” Gunther said.
Moving forward, investigators will look into weather conditions, the plane’s onboard systems, and air traffic control data. They will also investigate the pilot’s records, including maintenance records of the aircraft.
The plane, licensed under the administration’s “experimental” category, was homemade, Gunther said. He noted the category is a “vibrant, active segment of the aviation industry.”
The NTSB will also look at the pilot’s medical certification and physical condition at the time of the flight, Gunther said.
Crashes in Ohio by the numbers
Plane crashes are not common. But they happen, and when they do, there are often injuries.
There were 129 such crashes in Ohio between 2000 and 2023, according to NTSB data on “amateur-built” plane crashes. Gunther, from the NTSB, said amateur-built planes fall into the FAA’s “experimental” category.
The table below breaks down the 129 number by injury type.
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | No injuries |
| 32 | 23 | 27 | 47 |
The last “amateur-built” plane crash to occur in Ashland County was in 2017, when a pilot crashed in Loudonville because of a “partial loss of engine power.” The NTSB reported a minor injury from that crash.
In 2013, a pilot crashed in Jeromesville, and a pilot crashed in Ashland in 2003. The NTSB reported serious injuries from those.
Wolfelt’s was the first fatal crash in an amateur-built plane in more than 23 years.
Richland County saw a fatal amateur-built plane crash in 2005. The crash happened in Shelby, according to NTSB records. And Knox County experienced a fatal crash in Centerburg in 2009.
Gorman said aircraft crashes are typically because of a number of things that went badly in a short period of time.
In Wolfelt’s case, Gorman pointed to the weather as one of several possible factors. He said oftentimes pilots can experience what he called “get-home-itus,” an itch to get home quickly.
Sometimes that can lead to hasty decision-making, he said.
“It’s a shame,” he said. “I think he got in over his head pretty quickly.”