[T]he pilot of a glider that crashed last week into Sterling Mountain in Morristown, killing him as well as two passengers, died instantly of the injuries he suffered in the crash, according to his death certificate.
Donald Post, 70, died of “blunt impacts of head, torso and extremities,” the filing this week with the Vermont Department of Health stated. The death was “instant,” the document added.
The filing listed no other contributing factors to his death.
Manner of death was listed as an “accident.”
Morristown Police Chief Richard Keith is heading the death investigation into the crash that killed Post and his two passengers, Suzanne Moroz, 56, and her husband Frank Moroz III, 58, both of Hamden, Connecticut, on Aug. 29.
The police chief said Wednesday that the information on the death certificate appears to show that a medical event involving Post was not a cause of the mysterious crash.
Keith said the crash’s cause remains undetermined and he is awaiting the results of a probe into that by the National Transportation Safety Board. The police chief said at a press briefing last week that all indications point to the crash being an accident, not a criminal matter.
The bodies of the Connecticut couple and Post were taken to the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for autopsies after they were recovered a day after the crash.
Death certificates have not yet been filed for the Morozes, according to the Department of Health.
Dr. Steven L. Shapiro, Vermont’s chief medical examiner, conducted Post’s autopsy, the death certificate stated.
Post was the owner of Stowe Soaring, the company that owned the glider that left the Morrisville-Stowe State Airport late on the morning of Aug. 29 before crashing in a remote and heavily wooded area about 1,000 feet from summit of Sterling Mountain.
The glider ride was supposed to be a 30-minute sightseeing trip, according to authorities. However, when the aircraft didn’t return to the airport when expected, a search was launched.
The glider had no electronic equipment on board, and did not have a “black box,” or flight data recording, according to the NTSB.
Police have refused to speculate on what may have led the glider to crash, though authorities have said that some windy conditions had been reported in that area prior to the glider going down.
The company stated on its website it has suspended its operation for the time being.
“Stowe Soaring regrets that we will be closed until further notice,” the posting read. “We will attempt to answer any and all questions as appropriate. Thank you for your understanding.”
Peter Knudson, an NTSB spokesperson, said Wednesday that the information on the death certificate for the pilot does not yet officially rule anything in or out as far as the cause of the crash, including any medical issues.
“We’ll certainly look at the health records of the pilot, we’ll do a 72-hour background, leading up to the time of the accident to see if there are any issues there, such as fatigue,” he said. “We don’t just quickly rule things based on one report.”
Knudson said the investigation leading to the NTSB conclusion of the “probable cause” of the fatal crash will likely take 12 to 14 months.
Keith, Morristown’s police chief, said the gilder was taken down off the mountain, mostly in one piece, on Saturday. He said it was taken, at the NTSB’s request, to a location in Massachusetts. He said he didn’t know specifically where.
Knudson said he was not aware of the exact location where the agency had the glider taken for further examination.