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Jun 3, 2006 5:25 pm US/Eastern
Fed's Investigating Robertson's Jet After Crash
Televangelist Was Not Aboard; Two Pilots Dead

(CBS/AP) GROTON, CT. Federal investigators are back on the scene today to examine a Learjet, owned by religious broadcast Pat Robertson, that crashed yesterday in Long Island Sound while trying to land in heavy fog, killing the two pilots and injuring three passengers. Robertson was not aboard.

Authorities have released the identities of the five people aboard jet. All five were from Virginia. Both pilots were killed. Police today have identified them as 59-year-old Robert Janule of Hampton, Virginia and 55-year-old Michael Kiser of Suffolk, Virginia.

Their passengers sustained minor injuries. They've been identified as 50-year-old Douglas Fuller, of Chesapeake, Virginia, 52-year-old W. Preston Fussell of Chesapeake, Virginia and 53-year-old Norman Fortner of Suffolk, Virginia.

The jet is owned by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, who wasn't on board. Robertson's company rents the plane out and has a leasing agreement with International Jet Charter of Norfolk, Virginia, which chartered the plane yesterday.

The plane, which was heading from Virginia to the Groton-New London Airport, went down in the water in heavy fog. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies were back at the site today in their ongoing investigation.

Federal investigators believe fog contributed to a similar plane crash in the same area that killed four people last year

The rescued passengers were able to get out of the plane on their own and were taken to the hospital for minor injuries, state police spokesman Sgt. J. Paul Vance said.

According to Phil Laferrera, an organizer of the Tony Siragusa Celebrity Golf Classic, the passengers were heading to Connecticut to attend a charity golf tournament this weekend at Foxwoods Resort Casino. It went down a half-mile short of the runway at the Groton-New London Airport.

A spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Transportation said the plane may have hit one of several approach lights mounted in a cove near the airport. Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration are on the scene and National Transportation Safety Board authorities are expected to arrive today.

The jet is registered to Virginia-based Robertson Asset Management. The company is owned by Robertson and is separate from the Christian Broadcasting Network, spokeswoman Angell Vasko said.

She said Robertson was not on the plane and rents it out because he uses it infrequently.

"We're still trying to figure out who was on the plane," she said. "It's not Dr. Robertson, or (anyone) related to CBN or related to Dr. Robertson's individual businesses."

Coast Guard officials said the chartered, twin-engine Learjet 35 took off from Norfolk, Va., about 12:30 p.m. Friday and stopped in Atlantic City, N.J., to drop off two passengers before heading to Connecticut.

Rachel Waszkelewicz said she heard the crash and ran out of her house and onto her dock, but it was too foggy to see, so she called out to a group of lobstermen.

"Everybody jumped in their boats," she said. "You could hear voices. I don't know if it was from the plane or if it was boaters yelling to them."

Dick Sawyer, who lives in the neighborhood, said, "You could barely see past your hand at the time." Five minutes later, he said, the fog lifted just enough to reveal the jet in the water.

Two of the passengers were checked and released at a local hospital, while the third was kept overnight for observation.

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)