2nd man dies from burns suffered in seaplane crash U.S. investigators at scene to probe accident’s cause

TOWNSHIP 8, RANGE 10 – A West Paris man who was badly burned in a plane crash Sunday that killed another passenger later died from complications related to his injuries, authorities confirmed Monday.

Harlan Abbott, 67, died at a Boston hospital late Sunday. Vernon Inman, 77, also of West Paris, died at the crash scene. The men died after a Cessna 206 seaplane crash Sunday that occurred during takeoff from Horseshoe Pond, several miles east of Moosehead Lake.

“We were notified by the Massachusetts Medical Examiner’s Office that Abbott had died of his burns at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts,” said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.

Another passenger from West Paris, William Aridas, said to be in his 60s, was seriously injured in the crash and transported to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he was being treated for severe burns. Aridas was listed in critical condition Monday afternoon, according to hospital representatives.

McCausland said representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board, who are heading up the investigation, and Federal Aviation Administration investigators were at the scene all day Monday and will continue trying to determine the cause of the accident today.

“Our role was to secure the crash site and tend to the victims,” said McCausland. “The crash investigation itself is up to the federal investigators.”

Richard Dill, 32, of Greenville was the pilot of the six-seat, single-engine seaplane. The plane apparently tried several times to take off before clipping some trees, which sent the aircraft crashing to the ground, where it burst into flames in an unorganized territory called Bowdoin College Grant West.

According to the pilot, the aircraft stalled during takeoff. Dill was flying for Folsom’s Air Service in Greenville at the time of the crash and managed to walk away from the impact site with minor injuries. Dill sustained burns on his hands and arms when he pulled Abbott and Aridas from the plane, McCausland said. He was treated and released from Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital in Greenville.

Maine State Police received the report of the crash at 12:41 p.m. Sunday. The seaplane went down about one-quarter mile from Horseshoe Pond, where Dill had picked up the men, according to McCausland.

Six people were flown to a camp on the Horseshoe Pond, owned by the Folsom family of Greenville, on Friday and spent the weekend there. Walter Inman, 45, of West Paris, the son of the deceased, Randall Jones, 39, of West Paris and his 9-year-old son, Matthew, were safely flown out of the area Sunday morning by Dill.

The pond is nestled at the base of the Elephant and Indian mountains.

During 1996 Dill was involved in another plane crash when the engine quit on the 185 Cessna airplane he was piloting over Shirley. Dill was flying three representatives of S.D. Warren on a routine field inspection when the plane went down, landing nose first in the woods. None of the men involved in that crash was seriously injured.