CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The pilot of a plane that crashed in northeast Wyoming in July, killing seven people, declared an emergency and loss of the autopilot shortly before the incident that claimed the lives of three members of the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame quartet The Nelons.
The preliminary report released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board states the plane had taken off from an airport in Nebraska on July 26, with plans to stop in Billings, Montana, when the aircraft went down about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northeast of Recluse, Wyoming.
During the last part of the flight, the pilot declared an emergency to the Salt Lake City Air Route Traffic Control Center and reported the loss of autopilot, prompting the controller to ask him where he would like to land, the report states. The controller did not receive an initial response, but the pilot later said he was “trying to get control of the airplane,” the report states.
Once radar and radio contact were lost, the Federal Aviation Administration issued an alert notice for the plane, which was later found crashed in a remote area, according to the report.
One witness near the crash site reported hearing a “loud whining noise” before impact, while another saw the plane “overhead in a ‘barrel roll’ maneuver and heard the airplane’s engine ‘roaring loud’ until they heard the airplane impact terrain,” the report states.
A final report on the incident, examining potential causes, is expected later.
The Nelons co-founder Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband, Jason Clark, and their daughter Amber Nelon Kistler died in the crash, along with Nelon Kistler’s husband, Nathan Kistler, family friend Melodi Hodges, and Larry and Melissa Haynie.
The Nelons had been planning to join the Gaither Homecoming Cruise to Alaska, Gaither Management Group said in a statement at the time that identified Larry Haynie as the pilot.
The Nelons were inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2016 and were winners of 10 GMA Dove Awards, including multiple song of the year and album of the year awards.
The Nelons attend the 46th Annual GMA Dove Awards at Lipscomb University in Nashville on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015. (Photo by Wade Payne/Invision/AP)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were arrested Saturday after Venezuelan officials accused them of coming to the South American country to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the nation's powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television program, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the plotters of the alleged plan.
The arrest of the American citizens included a member of the Navy, who Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez. Cabello said that Gomez was a former navy seal who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. Spain's embassy in Venezuela did not reply to a request for comment on the arrests of its citizens.
The U.S. State Department late Saturday confirmed the detention of a U.S. military member and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.”
“Any claims of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela,” the statement said.
The announcement of the arrests comes just two days after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 allies of Maduro who were accused by the U.S. government of obstructing voting during the disputed July 28 Venezuelan presidential election, and carrying out human rights abuses.
Earlier this week, Spain's parliament recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the election, angering Maduro allies who called on the Venezuelan government to suspend commercial and diplomatic relations with Spain.
Tensions between Venezuela's government and the U.S. have increased as well following the election, whose result sparked protests within Venezuela in which hundreds of opposition activists were arrested.
Venezuela's Electoral Council, which is closely aligned with the Maduro administration, said Maduro won the election with 52% of the vote, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the results.
Opposition activists, however, surprised the government by collecting tally sheets from 80% of the nation's voting machines. The tally sheets collected by the opposition were published online, and they indicate that Gonzalez won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
Despite international condemnation over the election's lack of transparency, Venezuela's supreme court, which has long backed Maduro, confirmed his victory in August. Venezuela's attorney general then filed conspiracy charges against Gonzalez, who fled to Spain last week after it became clear he would be arrested.
Maduro has dismissed requests from several countries, including the leftist governments of Colombia and Brazil, to provide tally sheets that prove he won the election. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has long claimed the U.S. is trying to overthrow him through sanctions and covert operations.
The Maduro administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the U.S. government. In a deal conducted last year with the Biden administration, Maduro released 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the U.S. government to secure a presidential pardon for Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally who was held in Florida on money laundering charges. According to U.S. prosecutors, Saab had also helped Maduro to avoid U.S. Treasury sanctions through a complex network of shell companies.
FILE - Socialist Party President Diosdado Cabello gives his weekly press conference, in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, Aug. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
FILE - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses government loyalists gathered at the presidential palace in support of his reelection one month after the presidential vote, in Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
