Friends/neighbors in my parent's neighborhood feared dead :(:(:(
Sucks. The Tilman's were very nice people. I would see them all the time when I went home to visit.
3 Georgians feared dead in plane crash - One survivor pulled from ocean after plane went down off Fla. coast
By MIKE MORRIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/19/05
A junior at Rome's Darlington School was killed, and a classmate and her father remain missing, after a small plane crashed off Florida's northeast coast on Sunday.
The plane crash was the second Florida tragedy this year involving students from the private school.
Gary Tillman of Rome and his daughter, Hannah, are missing. Anna Kipp (right), 16, was killed.
The pilot of the plane, 43-year-old Gary Tillman of Rome, and his 16-year-old daughter, Hannah, were missing, said St. Johns County sheriff's Sgt. Charles Mulligan. Mulligan said 16-year-old Anna Kipp of Rome was pronounced dead at a local hospital. A third teen, 16-year-old Rachel Hostetler, was found in the water and is in good condition. Casey Zimmer, director of admissions for the Darlington School, said Kipp and Hannah Tillman were juniors at the school. Hostetler is a student at Rome High School.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Donnie Brzuska said rain, gale force winds and seven- to 10-foot seas hampered the search for the Cessna 195, which went down about a mile off Vilano Beach near St. Augustine.
The search was briefly called off due to the weather about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, but resumed about an hour later when the weather improved, and continued throughout the night, Brzuska said. Monday morning, a coast guard jet, helicopter and two boats were searching an 80-square-mile area, Brzuska said. Brzuska said at 9:30 a.m. Monday that search crews had found no signs of the plane or the father and daughter still missing.
"We'll continue searching until we determine that there's nobody out there to be found," he said. "We are still hopeful that Hannah and Gary will be recovered," Tom Whitworth, headmaster at Darlington, said in a statement released Monday morning.
"The sheriff told me last night that they sould be able to survive for up to 36 hours in current conditions," Whitworth said. "Our priortity right now is taking care of our students and families while we grieve the loss of Anna."
Darlington's Christmas break began last Friday, but the school's Morris Chapel was open today and faculty and staff members were made available to support the students. Grief counselors will also be on campus the week of Jan. 4 when students return from the holidays.
The plane carrying the Rome insurance executive and three teens took off from Craig Field in Jacksonville and was headed to Fort Pierce, said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane crashed about 1:30 p.m., and Hostetler was rescued a short time later, Brzuska said. Kipp's was recovered about an hour later, he said. The cause of the crash is being investigated.
The pilot was owner of the Gary Tillman Insurance Agency and Aviation Insurance Brokers of North America.
In late February, two Darlington students, 14-year-old Sean Wilkinson of Acworth and 15-year-old Clay McKemie of Rome drowned during a school-sponsored spring break canoeing and kayaking trip to Florida.
Sean and Clay were among eight students on the trip led by an English teacher at the school, and their canoe got separated from the rest of the group during bad weather. Their bodies were found two days later in the Gulf of Mexico.
In May, Darlington sophomore Erika Marie Binns, 16, was killed when her car ran off a Floyd County road while she was driving from the campus to a friend's house after studying for exams.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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