Theodore Weiss Plane Wreckage

City/Town: • Dunnellon

Location Class: • Government

Built: • N/A | Abandoned: • 2014

Status: • Abandoned

Photojournalist: • David Bulit

Table of Contents

The Tragedy of Theodore Weiss

On April 5, 2014, 74-year-old Theodore T. Weiss took off from Marion County Airport for a routine flight to Zephyrhills. He never arrived. After discovering his empty airplane hangar and his car still parked at the Zephyrhills airport, friends reported the experienced pilot missing. Weiss, who split his time between Florida and New York, had been attending the second annual Spring Sonex Fest in Marion County. He was flying a small, single-engine Sonex two-seater, a popular “kit” plane built by hand in the early 2000s by Louisiana pastor Dave Fortuna.

Search and Recovery

A massive search effort involved between 120 and 135 people, including law enforcement from Marion, Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Sumter, and Levy counties, as well as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Forest Service. Rescuers faced severe challenges due to the dense canopy of the Withlacoochee State Forest, where Weiss was last tracked, and the plane’s emergency locator transmitter was never activated. After covering nearly 20 square miles, the ground search was suspended. Six months later, on October 19, 2014, a hiker discovered the crash site near the Pruitt Trailhead, just two miles from where Weiss had taken off. Initial reports confirmed that Weiss’s skeletal remains were found still strapped into the aircraft’s seat.

Investigation

Following a labor-intensive, two-year investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a report stating they could not pinpoint the exact cause of the crash. The investigation revealed that the engine’s No. 3 cylinder had low compression, a condition that likely existed before takeoff. Additionally, investigators found a hole in a fuel supply line next to an engine control cable, but severe corrosion made it impossible to determine if the damage occurred before or during the impact. Because the fuel shutoff valve was found in the “off” position, officials concluded that Weiss was likely preparing for a forced landing and unlatched the canopy himself, rather than it opening accidentally mid-flight.

Ultimately, the evidence could not explain why a forced landing was necessary. The aircraft wreckage remains in the woods to this day. Theodore Weiss was buried in his home state of New York.