Into the Storm Line: N720RP's In-Flight Breakup Near Metz, West Virginia

A Piper Saratoga carrying three members of the same Pennsylvania church group broke apart in the air over a remote stretch of West Virginia after its non-instrument-rated pilot flew into a line of thunderstorms he had been trying to work his way around.

A Day Trip That Didn't Come Home

The pilot and his two passengers, Wesley Karl Martin, 30, of Narvon, Pennsylvania, and Dwayne K. Weaver, 32, of East Earl, Pennsylvania, were congregants of the same church. According to the pilot's employer, the flight was a planned day trip: fly out to Bloomfield, Indiana, conduct church business, and fly home the same evening. The return leg, from Shawnee Field Airport toward Deck Airport in Myerstown, Pennsylvania, put the Saratoga on a route that crossed a developing line of storms over West Virginia.

Working the Problem, Not Avoiding It

Air traffic control audio captured the pilot and an ARTCC controller discussing the storm line and possible ways around it. The pilot was not instrument-rated, meaning he was not legally or practically equipped to fly the airplane by reference to instruments alone if he lost visual contact with the horizon inside cloud. The NTSB's later finding was blunt about what happened next: he flew into instrument conditions intentionally, based on weather information that undersold what was actually ahead — variously described in preliminary reporting as "latent weather information."

Silence Over West Virginia

At around 6:05 p.m., the aircraft entered an area that early reporting characterized as light precipitation — a description that turned out not to match what the airplane actually flew into. Shortly after, radio contact with the pilot stopped. Controllers' attempts to reach the flight went unanswered.

Breakup and Wreckage

The Saratoga broke apart in flight. One wing was found detached in the Campbells Run area; the second wing and the fuselage came to rest on a steep, heavily wooded incline nearby — a wreckage pattern consistent with the airframe being overstressed during a loss of control, not a controlled descent. All three aboard were killed.

What the Investigation Found

The NTSB's final report placed the cause on the pilot's decision to press into instrument conditions he was not rated to handle, flying by visual reference into what became extreme precipitation. That combination — a non-instrument pilot, deteriorating weather he was working around rather than avoiding, and reliance on weather information that didn't reflect the storm's real intensity — led to a loss of control and the in-flight breakup that followed.

This reconstruction was researched from official investigation records where they exist, the original air traffic control recording, and contemporary reporting. The aircraft movement, timeline and written account were assembled independently by Flight Follower. Where an investigation is open or no probable cause has been published, the account says so rather than offering one.

Timeline

Accident Facts

Sources

• NTSB docket ERA22FA368 (probable cause quoted verbatim)
• LebTown, "Plane bound for Myerstown crashes in West Virginia; 3 dead, FAA investigating"
• Daily Voice (Lancaster/Cornwall-Mount Gretna editions), "2 Pennsylvania Victims ID'd In West Virginia Plane Crash, Cause Revealed" (victim names via obituary, corroborated across two Daily Voice regional editions)
• West Virginia Public Broadcasting, "3 Perish In Plane Crash In Northern West Virginia"