Authorities identify three killed in Gwinnett plane crash

LAWRENCEVILLE - Authorities have identified the three people killed when a twin-engine plane flying from Florida to Georgia crashed Monday night in an industrial park near Briscoe Field .

Ted Bailey, chief forensic investigator for the Gwinnett County medical examiner's office, told the Gwinnett Daily Post on Tuesday that Michael Allen Mucha, 44, of Davie, Fla., was the pilot of the twin-engine Cessna Chancellor 414 that crashed . Also aboard were Mucha's wife, Norma Ann, 43, and 16-year-old daughter, Samantha Mucha.

All three were ejected from the plane during the crash and died at the scene, police said.

The plane had taken off from the Palm Beach County Glades Airport, near Pahokee, Fla., and was approaching Briscoe Field when it crashed Monday night, officials said.

``It is my understanding that it was very foggy at the time,'' said Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington.

Frank Taylor, a National Weather Service meteorologist at Peachtree City, said the tower at Briscoe Field reported fog and visibility of only a half mile in the hour before the crash.

Lt. Craig Stanley of the Gwinnett County Fire Department said there were reports of an explosion at about 9 p.m. and confirmed there were at least three fatalities.

Stanley said the plane's pilot had radioed that the plane was having trouble and that he was attempting to land. An air traffic controller then called authorities after seeing an orange glow in the distance, he said.

The plane, registered to a company in Pembroke Pines, Fla., disappeared from radar at about 8:30 p.m., said Brown.

The cause of the crash will be determined by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Paul Schlamm, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, said one of its investigators was already on the scene and probably would be joined by FAA and Cessna representatives.

``They'll be documenting the accident,'' he said. ``They'll be looking at the wreckage and they'll move it indoors for further examination as needed.''

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)