By Robert Perea
The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report on the plane crash on December 5 in Medford, Ore. that killed two Fallon residents.
Donald Harbert Sefton, 69, and Valerie Jean Serpa, 67 were killed when the plane they were in crashed shortly after taking off from the Medford Airport.
The preliminary report does not say what caused the crash, but it details the circumstances surrounding the flight. The plan was a 1977 Piper PA-31-350 “Navajo Chieftain” twin-propeller plane registered to Sefton.
According to the report, Sefton flew the plane from Fallon to Medford on November 24, but after landing, Sefton noticed the plane was leaking a large amount of fuel from the right wing root. Sefton left the airport in Medford for repair and drove a rental car back to Fallon. On December 4, a mechanic notified Sefton that the repairs were completed. Sefton and Serpa drove back to Medford on December 5 to pick up the plane.
On takeoff, Sefton received instrument flight rules clearance for takeoff and an air traffic controller informed him the overcast layer base was at 200 feet above ground level and the top of the layer was at 2,500 feet. Responding to a question from Sefton, the controller instructed him to make a climbing right turn to overfly the approach end of the runway. Sefton’s acknowledgment of the instruction was his last transmission.
Seconds later, the controller stated that he was receiving a low-altitude alert that the airplane’s altitude was showing 1,700 feet. He made several attempts to reach Sefton, with no response.
The plane climbed after takeoff but began to gradually drop before climbing sharply up twice before it crashed. Six seconds after it reached an altitude of 2,250 feet, was the last time it was seen on radar.
The plane crashed adjacent to the garage bays of an automobile dealership located about half a mile from the departure end of the runway.
The report can be found on the NTSB.gov website.
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