CHANTILLY, Va. -- Federal transportation investigators searched today for the cause of a fatal crash at Washington-Dulles International Airport of a twin-engine aircraft reportedly owned by a CIA-operated company.
The crash Wednesday afternoon killed the pilot, the sole person on board. The pilot's name was not immediately released.
A spokesman for Fairways Corp., which owned the de-Havilland-6 Twin Otter commuter plane capable of carrying 19 people, said it was on a maintenance flight going from Dulles to nearby Washington National Airport when it crashed.
Today's Washington Post, citing aviation sources, reported that Fairways is operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.
However, CIA spokesman Bill Baker said the agency 'cannot confirm or deny any contractual or proprietary relationship' with the company.
Fairways is listed with the Federal Aviation Administration as a 'contract carrier,' which means that it serves only private clients, the Post quoted aviation sources as saying. Until the crash, the company operated four aircraft, said one local airline official familiar with Fairways.
A 1975 Post article described Fairways as a 'secret shuttle service for agents of the Central Intelligence Agency.'
Investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were trying to determine the cause of the crash, Dulles Airport manager Dexter Davis said.
'It was taking off on runway 19 Left, apparently reached an altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 feet, simply nosed over to the left ... for no known reason at this point and time, crashed into the edge of the woods and burst into flames immediately,' said Davis.
The plane crashed 400 feet left of the runway in the northeastern corner of the airport, said FAA spokesman Pat Cariseo.
The runway near the crash was closed for about 30 minutes, but flight service was not interrupted, Davis said.
Brian DePoorter, an eyewitness who works at a business near Dulles, said he saw the crash from a ninth-floor window.
'It came almost to a stop in the air, it did a cartwheel toward the left and dove straight into the ground and immediately burst into flames.'
