Valdosta Daily Times

State News

February 23, 2013

Flying routine for Ga. doc, staff killed in crash

SAVANNAH — With four medical clinics across the Southeast, commuting by private plane was a routine day at work for Dr. Steven Roth and his surgical staff.

The Augusta-based vascular surgeon would fly at least one day a week to of the practice’s satellite clinics in Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., and Raleigh, N.C., where he and a small team of nurses and technicians would perform surgeries and consult with patients.

Now, federal investigators are working to determine why Roth’s trip Wednesday night turned deadly. The private jet had returned to eastern Georgia after a day’s work at the Nashville clinic 400 miles away when the pilots aborted their landing, struck a 60-foot utility pole about a quarter-mile past the runway and crashed, breaking into fragments of flaming wreckage. Roth and four members of his staff were killed, and two pilots were hospitalized.

“It’s a trip that’s been made hundreds of times,” said Melissa Benak, the wife of Roth’s Atlanta-based co-worker Dr. Mark Benak. “So I think that’s why people are especially in shock.”

The crash devastated the partner physicians and staff that worked closely with the 48-year-old Roth to expand the medical practice, which they called the Vein Guys, since the surgeon opened his first clinic in Augusta in 2004.

Four members of Roth’s traveling medical team also died in the crash. They included nurse anesthetist Lisa Volpitto, 46; ultrasound technician Tiffany Porter, 28; and Kim Davidson, 46, who was Roth’s executive assistant.

The fifth crash victim had still not been positively identified, McDuffie County Coroner Foster Wiley said Friday. A spokeswoman for the Vein Guys, Tina Vidal-Smith, said the fifth person traveling with Roth was ultrasound technician Heidi McCorkle, 28. The medical firm said in a statement that the two pilots survived.

Vidal-Smith said three of the staff had been with Roth for at least five years. Only Porter, a native of Albany, was new to the practice. She had been working with Roth just three days before the crash.

“They were a family, and they’ve been together for a really long time,” Vidal-Smith said.

Roth and his team treated patients for varicose veins, spider veins and other vascular diseases affecting the legs. The doctor would see patients a few days each week in Augusta, then use the jet for day-trips to treat patients at the other clinics.

“It was a natural course of business for him,” Vidal-Smith said.

Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board returned Friday to the crash site about a half-mile from the small, private airport in Thomson, about 30 miles west of Augusta. The NTSB quickly determined the plane overshot the runway and hit a concrete utility pole, tearing off the jet’s left wing and causing fuel to leak and burst into flames. NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said that much of the wreckage was in small fragments strewn over 100 yards and that most of the plane had burned.

What remains unknown is why the jet’s pilot aborted the landing. The jet approached the runway under clear skies. Flight records confirmed the plane had made the same trip many times, Sumwalt said Friday, and air traffic controllers in Augusta received no distress calls.

Pilots would typically notify air traffic controllers of mechanical malfunctions or emergencies, Sumwalt said.

Sumwalt said experts in Washington would take a closer look at video from a motion-activated security camera at the airport that caught only a brief and grainy glimpse at the jet.

Investigators had also paid a brief visit to one of the hospitalized pilots, Sumwalt said, but detailed interviews about what happened before the crash would have to wait.

“Obviously, they’ve got the firsthand accounts of what happened, as best as they can remember them,” Sumwalt said. “But you can’t just go storming into a hospital and conduct an interview.”

One of the pilots, Richard Trammel, was upgraded to fair condition Friday at Georgia Regents Medical Center in Augusta. The name of the second pilot had not been released by authorities, and his condition remained unknown.

Joshua Williams, a fellow charter pilot, said he had known Trammel for 18 years.

“He’s a very experienced pilot, a very skilled pilot with many, many years of expertise,” Williams said, though he declined to comment further.

Text Only
State News
  • GOP charges into Ga. elections

    With three U.S. House seats in Georgia wide open in 2014, the chance to go to Washington is already attracting a crowd of several state legislators, a minister, a surgeon, a political novice and an ex-congressman seeking a comeback. So far, not one is a Democrat.

    June 17, 2013

  • In Ga., a push to change civil forfeiture laws

    Alda Gentile was not arrested. She was not charged with a crime. Yet police in Georgia seized $11,530 in cash that Gentile said she had in a car for a house-hunting trip in Florida.

    June 16, 2013

  • Hahiran pleads no contest

    A Hahiran whom officials said faked his death to avoid prosecution on sex charges has pleaded no contest in the Florida case.

    June 14, 2013

  • Storm leaves thousands without power in coastal Ga.

    Georgia Power officials say a storm along the coast left thousands of customers in the dark.

    June 11, 2013

  • Insurgents attack military side of Afghan airport

    Insurgents on Monday attacked the military side of Kabul’s international airport, which houses a NATO headquarters, and explosions and gunfire were occurring, Afghan army and police said.

    June 10, 2013

  • Little St Simons Isla_Rich.jpg Trip to Georgia island like stepping back in time

    Ten thousand intrusion-free acres of maritime forests and marshlands, seven miles of shell-strewn beaches, this extraordinary natural sanctuary -- among the last of its kind anywhere -- is how Little St. Simons Island welcomes guests to this virtually untouched island.

    June 10, 2013 1 Photo

  • Mookie Blaylock Crash_Rich.jpg Ex-NBA guard Blaylock injured in crash; 1 killed

    Former NBA All-Star guard Daron “Mookie” Blaylock was on life support at a hospital Friday after his SUV crossed the center line and crashed head-on into a van in suburban Atlanta, fatally injuring a passenger in the van, police said.

    June 1, 2013 1 Photo

  • Jekyll Island_Rich copy.jpg Report: Jekyll Island exceeded development limits

    A decades-old state law passed to protect Jekyll Island’s unspoiled beaches, salt marshes and maritime forests seems simple enough, limiting development of hotels, golf courses and other amenities to just 35 percent of the island’s land area.

    May 13, 2013 1 Photo

  • Water Wars_Rich copy.jpg Tri-state water feud plays out in Congress

    The water dispute between Alabama, Florida and Georgia is provoking hardball politics in Congress, where Georgia lawmakers derailed a proposal that could restrict metro Atlanta’s water supply.

    May 13, 2013 1 Photo

  • Olens running for re-election

    Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens made several stops in Valdosta Thursday, ending the day by speaking at the annual Valdosta Bar Association’s annual banquet.

    May 10, 2013

Top News
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
Poll

Should the government have access to your phone, emails?

Yes, always.
No, never.
Only in times of national emergency.
     View Results