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Pilot Virgil King dies in plane crash at WHP's transmitter on February 18, 1976 (2-19-76 article)
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2-20-76 follow-up article
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2-20-76 King obituary
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NTSB report
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The original tower 1 being demolished in 1978 during a tower replacement project (N. Maus)
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Only the concrete base of the original 1950 tower 1 remains in foreground. The present tower is seen in the background (Portzline)
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Loutzenhiser home, looking across field from original tower 1 location (Portzline)
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King's grave marker in Frazer, PA (Portzline)
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In the early afternoon of February 18, 1976, 32-year-old Virgil King's plane
struck the warning beacon on top of WHP's southwest tower (tower 1).
The force sheared a wing from King's single-engine plane. Most of the
wreckage came to rest across the street behind the home of Paul Loutzenhiser.
King did not survive.
The beacon, made almost entirely of
glass, stood only about three feet above the tower. Ironically, if King had been
only a mere foot or two higher, he would have survived a "near-miss".
If King had struck any lower, the tower would have come down with him,
possibly causing several towers to collapse. Instead, the beacon took
the impact and the tower remained intact.
The original 305' tower was replaced (along with the rest of the
towers) to improve WHP's transmission system in 1979.
