Probe continues in Newry plane crash

NEWRY – Answers are still months away in a plane crash that claimed the lives of a pilot and three Lewiston High School students last summer.

The National Transportation Safety Board is continuing to track leads and look into factors that may have played a role in the crash of the Cessna 172 on June 22, said Todd Gunther, an NTSB investigator.

It could be another five months before final conclusions are released, he said.

Killed in the crash were Nicholas Babcock, 17, Teisha Loesberg, 16, and Shannon Fortier, 15, all of Lewiston and the pilot, William “Charlie” Weir, 24, of Auburn.

A preliminary report indicated the plane was operating at full throttle when it crashed into the tops of 60-foot trees on Barker Mountain near the Sunday River ski area. The plane tumbled to the ground and the wreckage caught fire.

Weir was a flight instructor who worked for Twin Cities Air Service. He was giving an introductory flying lesson to three teens as part of an Air Force Junior ROTC summer camp program when the plane crashed.

Lt. Col. Robert Meyer, director of the Junior ROTC at Lewiston High, said flying has been suspended until the NTSB investigation is complete.

Depending on the investigation’s outcome, policy changes may be made to the Junior ROTC program nationwide, Meyer said.

“Headquarters had e-mailed they were going to review the whole program,” he told the Sun Journal newspaper in Lewiston.