2 Hamden Residents Killed In Glider Crash In Vermont

HAMDEN, CT — Tragic news out of Vermont today as two Hamden residents are confirmed to have been killed in a glider crash on Sterling Mountain in Morristown, Vermont, authorities announced on Thursday afternoon. Officials have identified the victims of Wednesday’s crash as Frank Moroz III, 58, and Suzanne Moroz, 56, both of Hamden, and Donald Post, 70, of Stowe, Vermont. Post was the glider’s pilot.

“At this hour, a recovery operation is underway on Sterling Mountain to remove the bodies from the site of the crash and bring them down to a staging area at the Beaver Meadow Trailhead in the Mount Mansfield State Forest,” Vermont State Police wrote in a press release. “From there, funeral home personnel will transport the bodies to the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Burlington for autopsies to determine cause and manner of death.”

The Morristown Police Department is leading the death investigation while the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are sending investigators to Vermont to determine the cause of the glider crash. The Vermont State Police, working in conjunction with numerous other agencies, is coordinating the operation to recover the bodies of the three victims, police said.

A tow plane with the glider attached departed from the Morrisville-Stowe State Airport at about 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 29. The glider, which carried the pilot and two passengers, disconnected over Spruce Peak about 20 minutes later, according to police. To sign up for Hamden breaking news alerts and more, click here.

The Morristown Police Department received a report that the glider was missing at 1:56 p.m. Wednesday. Emergency crews from Morrisville and Stowe police departments along with the Vermont State Police responded to the airport to establish a command post and begin a search operation. At about 5:35 p.m., the crew of an aircraft launched from the airport located what appeared to be the glider approximately 1,000 feet from the summit of Sterling Mountain.

Search and rescue crews reached the wreckage at about 9:35 p.m. Wednesday and the bodies of the three people aboard the plane were located.

Recovery efforts resumed at about 9 a.m. Thursday and are expected to continue for several more hours. The crash site is in remote, heavily wooded forest near the summit of Sterling Mountain. The site is off the Long Trail more than a mile from the Beaver Meadow Trailhead, and about 1,500 feet higher in elevation.

“The glider, a Schweizer with tail number 17970, is owned by Stowe Soaring and operated from the Morrisville-Stowe State Airport,” police wrote in the press release. “The fuselage is reported to be intact, with the wings torn away in the crash. A private pilot based at the Morrisville-Stowe State Airport located the wreckage from the air at about 5:35 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after she took off to make one last pass over the area where the glider was lost before thunderstorms arrived.”

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