Saturday, July 31, 2004 · Last updated 3:54 p.m. PT
Pilot in Air Force crash had heart attack
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS -- The civilian pilot of an Air Force transport plane suffered a fatal heart attack moments before the twin-engine Beechcraft plunged to the ground in March, killing four other men, officials said.
An autopsy found that pilot David D. Palay, a 57-year-old Vietnam War veteran, had kept secret his high blood pressure in violation of federal policy and had taken "inappropriate medications," according to a summary of the accident investigation released Friday by the Air Force Materiel Command.
Palay had denied he was taking medications in meetings with Federal Aviation Administration physical examiners, military investigators said.
The plane crashed March 16 as it approached Tonopah Air Force Auxiliary Airfield in central Nevada. The plane had departed from a classified airstrip on Nellis Air Force Range.
Also killed in the crash were Derrick L. Butler, Michael A. Izold, Daniel M. Smalley and Roy A. Van Voorhis.
The four men were contract workers with JT3 LLC, a Las Vegas-based company.