After concluding interviews @ Southern Adventist Univeristy, there was a plane crash that killed (i've heard 5) people from teh Georgia-Cumberland Conference.

So sudden and so sad. Will be praying for their families and friends.

United States: Plane Crash Claims Lives of Five Adventists, Including Four Administrators

December 1, 2004 Collegedale, Tennessee, United States .... [Olson Perry/ANN Staff]

Pastor Dave Cress, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Georgia-Cumberland district in the United States. [File photo]

Pastor James H. Frost, vice president for administration of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Georgia-Cumberland district in the United States. [File photo]

A small plane crash claimed the lives of three administrators and a director of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, based in Calhoun, Georgia, as well as their pilot. The crash occurred just north of Collegedale, Tennessee, on Thursday, December 2, at approximately 1:15 p.m. local time. A sixth person, the copilot escaped with minor injuries.

Killed were Pastor Dave Cress, president; Pastor Jim Frost, executive secretary and vice president for administration; Jamie Arnall, director of communication; and Pastor Clay Farwell, assistant to the president were killed, as was hired pilot and Adventist church member John Laswell. Jim Huff, a volunteer copilot and member of the Standifer Gap Seventh-day Adventist Church, survived. Media reports indicate Huff was hospitalized in Chattanooga, 15 miles from Collegedale.

The Cessna 421 went down two miles north of Collegedale, crashing in a field at Pine Hill and McDonald roads shortly after take-off.

The group was headed from meetings at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale to Knoxville, approximately 95 miles away, where they were to hold meetings with local pastors and other church officials.

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America joins its offices in Georgia in mourning the loss of five of its workers in a plane crash earlier this afternoon," said Pastor Don Schneider, North American church president, in a statement. "We would encourage all people of faith to join us in praying that the families and co-workers of the victims will find comfort. At times of great tragedy, a church family can provide great strength. We pray that we can provide that strength to those most affected by this loss."

Similar to ANN but the release from SAU and the Union


Below is the official news release from the Southern Union regarding the Georgia Cumberland Conference's plan that crashed in Collegedale earlier today.

This evening, a prayer and support group will meet at Thatcher Hall in the chapel at 7pm. Counselors and several religion professors will be available.
Thank you,
Ruthie Gray
--
Director
Marketing & University Relations
Southern Adventist University
www.southern.edu
423.236.2840
423.236.1831 (fax)

SOUTHERN UNION CONFERENCE LOSES GEORGIA-CUMBERLAND CONFERENCE ADMINISTRATORS, DIRECTOR IN PLANE CRASH

A small plane crash took the lives of three administrators and a director of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, based in Calhoun, GA, as well as their pilot, just north of Collegedale, TN, on Thursday, December 2, at approximately 1:15 p.m. A sixth person, the copilot escaped with minor injuries.

Dave Cress, president; Jim Frost, executive secretary (vice president); Jamie Arnall, director of communication; and Clay Farwell, assistant to the president were killed, as was hired pilot John Laswell. Jim Huff, volunteer copilot and member of the Standifer Gap Seventh-day Adventist Church, survived.

The Cessna 421 went down two miles north of Collegedale, crashing in a field at Pine Hill and McDonald roads shortly after take-off.

The group was headed from meetings at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale to Knoxville, where they were to hold meetings with Seventh-day Adventist pastors and other Conference presidents.

The Southern Union Conference family grieves with the family and coworkers of these men, and will release information on funeral arrangements as it becomes available.

Contact: Sheila Elwin, 404-295-4136; Olson Perry, 404-510-9417

Plane Crashes Near Collegedale With 5 Fatalities
Adventist Leaders Perish In Cessna Crash
posted December 2, 2004

Five people died when a small plane crashed just north of Collegedale early Thursday afternoon.

Officials said those dead include four leaders of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh Day Adventists. The group was headed from meetings at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale to Knoxville, where they were to hold meetings with Seventh-day Adventist pastors and other Conference presidents.

They were identified as Dave Cress, president; Jim Frost, executive secretary (vice president); Jamie Arnall, director of communication; and Clay Farwell, assistant to the president.

The fifth victim was the pilot, John Laswell.

A sixth person - a man in his 30s - had only minor injuries. He walked through some woods to a nearby house. He was taken by ground transport to Erlanger Medical Center and was listed in fair condition. He was the co-pilot, James Huff. His family arrived at the hospital to be with him late Thursday afternoon. He is a member of the Standifer Gap Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The crash of the twin-engine Cessna 421 was in a field at Pine Hill and McDonald roads some two or three miles north of Collegedale.

The plane broke into two large pieces and burst into flames.

A number of fire units and rescue squads sped to the scene.

Collegedale Airport officials said a plane had taken off just before the crash. It was en route to Knoxville.

The plane was registered to the Georgia Cumberland Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church of Calhoun, Ga.

Amy Maxwell of Hamilton County EMS said there was a report of a loud explosion at 1:17 p.m. She said Tri Community Fire Department and Hamilton County EMS rushed to the scene.

She said that due to the fire, the site remains a hazardous area and was roped off.

She said at 3 p.m. that there was still a search going on for victims of the crash. By 4 p.m., officials confirmed that five people died.

Seventh Day Adventist officials said, "The Southern Union Conference family grieves with the families and coworkers of these men, and will release information on funeral arrangements as it becomes available."

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_59379.asp

This is what Staff and Faulty here at Walla Walla College recieved.

Dear WWC family,
You may have already heard or read about the tragic plane crash which took place earlier
today near Collegedale, Tenn. Five of the six on board perished in the crash. Four were
officers of the Georgia-Cumberland conference and the fifth was the pilot. The co-pilot
survived.

Of special concern for our community is that one of those lost is the brother of college church associate pastor John Cress. Please pray for the Cress family as well as the families of all who suffered loss. This certainly is a very sad time for our sister college and the
Georgia-Cumberland conference and we want them to know we share their grief.

More information is available on at gcsda.com, wrcbtv.com (local TV station), and the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer web site.

Jon Dybdahl

I used to live in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference...I grew up there and have many happy memories of Dave Cress as Mr. Cohutta Springs. Pathfinders went there every year. What a shock! I will post also something in Townhall on this subject.

NTSB Files Preliminary
Plane Crash Report

he National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday, December 8, posted on
its Web site the following preliminary report of the Cessna 421 plane crash
that took the lives of four Georgia-Cumberland Conference leaders and an
Adventist pilot on December 2. The report is prefaced by the statement:
"This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors.
Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been
completed."


NTSB Preliminary Report: ATL05FA032
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Thursday, Dec 02, 2004 in Apison, TN
Aircraft: Cessna 421B, registration: N421SD
Injuries: 5 Fatal, 1 Serious.
On December 2, 2004, at 1324 eastern standard time, a Cessna 421B, N421SD,
registered to Georgia Cumberland Conference of Seventh Day Adventist,
operating as a 14 CFR Part 91 business flight, collided with trees and the
ground while attempting a forced landing in the vicinity of Apison,
Tennessee. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument
flight rules flight plan was filed. The flight plan was not activated. The
airplane was destroyed and there was a post-crash fire. The commercial
pilot, and four passengers were fatally injured. The airline transport
pilot-rated passenger (ATP) reported serious injuries. The flight originated
from Collegedale Municipal Airport, Collegedale, Tennessee, on December 2,
2004, at 1318.

The ATP passenger seated in the right front cockpit seat stated the pilot
departed from runway 03. The airplane was between 200 to 300 feet on initial
takeoff climb when the right engine lost power and the airplane yawed to the
right. The pilot lowered the nose of the airplane to gain airspeed, and he
appeared to be moving the boost pump switches. The ATP passenger observed
trees to their front and thought the pilot was trying to make a forced
landing in an open field to their left. The ATP passenger thought the
airplane would skim the top of the trees and they would be able to complete
the forced landing in the open field. He then realized the airplane was
going to collide with the trees. Just before the airplane hit the trees, the
pilot feathered the right engine.* The ATP passenger observed the right
propeller going into the feather position, and the propeller came to a
complete stop. As soon as the airplane came to a stop he observed he pilot
slumped over in his seat, and then observed the airplane was on fire. He
immediately exited the airplane, and departed the crash site seeking
assistance.

A witness stated he was walking in his front yard when he heard an airplane
approaching. "The engine sounded like it was surging." The airplane
approached his home from the south going north, and was located above the
tree line. The witness observed the airplane make a left bank estimated at
20- degrees. The airplane disappeared from view behind the trees and
smoldering smoke pursued. The witness called the emergency 911 operators,
and notified them of the accident. He then observed an individual coming
from the direction of the crash site and saw a ball of fire when the
airplane exploded.

*To "feather" a dead engine means to rotate its propeller blades sideways
and lock the propellor to a stop, allowing the plane to maintain altitude or
even climb.

According to an NTSB Public Affairs spokesperson, as the investigation of
the crash continues two additional reports will be filled--a factual and a
final. Facts regarding the conditions of the crash site and the plane,
statements from witnesses and other persons involved with the incident,
pictures of the crash site, and other pertinent information discovered
during the investigation will be included in the factual report. The
spokesperson stated that it will take several months to complete this part
of the investigation. When the probable cause of the crash is determined, it
will be presented in the final report. The timeline for the entire
investigation is estimated to be a year or longer.
------------------------------------------
Thanks Adventist Review News on line...............//News and Views, a
service of Bruce Babienco

And they all died but one.

Wednesday afternoon, December 1, the airplane owned by the Georgia Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists was dispatched on a journey of mercy. A dying cancer victim was flown to a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The plane then returned to its base in Chattanooga. The flight went flawlessly. There was no hint of any problem.

The next morning the plane left Chattanooga for Calhoun, Georgia, to pick up its precious cargo of officers of the Conference for a day of special services for members of the clergy in several areas of the State of Tennessee. The first stop was in Collegedale where fifty men were gathered to hear words of encouragement from the lips of David Cress, President of the Conference, and Jerry Frost, the Vice President. Jerry gave the opening address and chose for his biblical passage Colossians 1:13,14 ?Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son?.? Little did he know he was reading a prophecy of what was yet to come later in the day.

After lunch in the University cafeteria the group of men were driven to the Collegedale airport and departed in the Conference plane, a Cessna 421, The Golden Eagle. It was a comfortable cabin class plane that had seen many thousands of miles in the work of the church. It had recently undergone a thorough inspection and had been equipped with updated radios to make the flights safer. Dr.Gordon Beitz, President of the University, was invited to go along to the Knoxville appointment but he declined due to a heavy work load. He had flown in that plane many thousands of miles as the former President of the Conference.

The lift off was flawless. Gear up?flaps up?climb power set. Then it happened. The right engine simply quit. The plane veered to the right with the unbalanced thrust with the left engine producing full climb power. The pilot, John Lazwell, quickly brought the plane back to straight flight and prepared to feather the windmilling prop on the right engine.

They were at 300 feet altitude. But mysteriously the remaining working engine could not make the plane climb. This was unusual in that the plane was capable of climbing on one engine and the plane was well under gross weight. Many gallons of fuel had been consumed during the flight from Chattanooga to Collegedale by way of Calhoun, Georgia, and no additional fuel had been purchased at either stop. (This rules out the probability of fuel contamination). There were also two empty seats on the plane.

Since it was loosing altitude John tried to pick a pasture to crash land the plane. Unfortunately the descent was too rapid and they missed the pasture hitting a wooded area with the full force of one engine still producing climb power and with a speed of approximately 140 miles per hour.

The plane began disintegrating with the impact against the large trees. First the wings were torn off. The plane started spinning wildly and the tail was sheared off. Jim Huff, the volunteer co-pilot, saw everything imaginable flying by the cockpit window including human bodies. Ahead of his windshield loomed a very large tree, which he expected to hit him right in the face but the plane spun enough so that it got the pilot, John, apparently killing him instantly.

Moments later the flying debris and thundering noises came to rest. In the eerie silence Jim found himself outside the protective metal of the fuselage, sitting in his cockpit seat on the ground. His seat belt was broken but he was still sitting in the seat which in turn was on top of one of the largest pieces of the wreckage, a one foot square piece of metal. This was one of the largest pieces of metal remaining. The plane virtually disintegrated.

All around the plane was a ring of small fires. Jim got up and ran toward the open field, which was about a hundred feet away. He had to push aside some burning brush with his bare hand, which gave him third degree burns on that hand. He staggered into the field and into several residents who were running toward the crash site. Jim collapsed at their feet. One of them dialed 911 and the Life Force helicopter was dispatched from Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, but it was to prove to be too late.

Within five minutes the first of three thunderous explosions was heard from the crash site. Then in quick succession the other two fuel tanks blew up. The flames reached an estimated height of 150 feet. The only significant piece of wreckage was the tail section, which was approximately one hundred feet from the final resting place of the debris.

Jim suffered only a third degree burn on his hand, a broken collar bone and a six inch gash on the calf of his leg apparently from a piece of metal. He did not even hit his head on the windshield. He remembers these details well because he was not knocked unconscious and can recall every second of the impact. He was discharged from the hospital the next day. Unfortunately the five others did not make it. The dead were Dave Cress, President of the Conference; Jim Frost, Vice President; Jamie Arnall, Director of Communications; Clay Farwell, Assistant to the President and retired President of the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference; and John Laswell, contract pilot. Dave Cress graduated from Southern Adventist University in 1979 and was also a member of the Board of Trustees. Jamie Arnall graduated from Southern in 1999 as a communication major.

(This is an account of the accident as spoken by Jim Huff to Dan Clifford, manager of the aircraft, and relayed to me by Dan as best as I can remember them.)

United States: Plane Crash Claims Lives of Five Adventists, Including Three Administrators, One Director

December 2, 2004 Collegedale, Tennessee, United States .... [Olson Perry/Mark A. Kellner/ANN Staff]



Pastor Dave Cress, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Georgia-Cumberland district in the United States. [File photo]



Pastor James H. Frost, vice president for administration of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Georgia-Cumberland district in the United States. [File photo]



Pastor Clay Farwell, assistant to the president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Georgia-Cumberland district, was a former president of the Kentucky-Tennessee district, both in the United States. [File photo]



Jamie Arnall, communication director of Seventh-day Adventist Church's Georgia-Cumberland district in the United States. [File photo]



A graduate of Andrews University, John Laswell served as a corporate pilot for several businesses in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area in the United States, occasionally flying for the Georgia-Cumberland district of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. [File photo]

A small plane crash took the lives of three administrators and a director of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, based in Calhoun, Georgia, as well as their pilot, just north of Collegedale, Tennessee., on Thursday, Dec. 2, at approximately 1:15 p.m. local time. The copilot of the aircraft survived.

Killed were Pastor Dave Cress, 47, president; Pastor James H. Frost, 53, vice president of administration; Jamie Arnall, 29, director of communication; and Pastor Clay Farwell, 67, assistant to the president, and hired pilot and Adventist church member John Laswell, 36. Jim Huff, 37, a volunteer copilot and member of the Standifer Gap Seventh-day Adventist Church, survived. Media reports indicate Huff was hospitalized in Chattanooga, 15 miles from Collegedale, and released the following day.

Farwell, who had been retired from the ministry and recently returned to help the Georgia-Cumberland district, was previously the youth director for the church's Southern United States' church region, as well as former president of the Kentucky-Tennessee and Indiana church districts.

Details of memorial services were announced late in the day on Dec. 3, and can be found at the Georgia-Cumberland district's Web site (see first "related site link" below).

The Cessna 421 went down approximately 1.5 miles north of Collegedale, crashing in a field at Pine Hill and McDonald roads shortly after take-off. Media reports quote an airport official as saying engine failure was the cause. However, the Atlanta, Georgia, office of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash and will make a final determination, Lauren Peduzzi, an NTSB Public Affairs Officer at the agency's headquarters, told ANN.

The group was headed from meetings at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale to Knoxville, approximately 95 miles away, where they were to hold meetings with Seventh-day Adventist pastors and other regional officials.

"The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America joins its offices in Georgia in mourning the loss of five of its workers in a plane crash earlier this afternoon," said Pastor Don Schneider, North American church president, in a statement, Dec. 2. "We would encourage all people of faith to join us in praying that the families and co-workers of the victims will find comfort. At times of great tragedy, a church family can provide great strength. We pray that we can provide that strength to those most affected by this loss."

Approximately 29,000 members are among the weekly worshippers at the 142 Seventh-day Adventist congregations in the district. The Georgia-Cumberland Conference encompasses all of Georgia, Eastern Tennessee and Cherokee County, North Carolina.

Related Sites
Details of tragedy and memorial services This web site includes announcements from the Georgia-Cumberland Seventh-day Adventist church district in the United States, including updated information on memorial services.
Biographies of Church workers killed in crash This page offers brief biographies of the four church workers who were among the victims of the crash.

Copyright © 2004 by Adventist News Network