LITTLE ROCK — Federal authorities are investigating the cause of a Saturday single-engine plane crash in Washington County that left all four aboard dead.
Soon after 11:42 a.m., a Beechcraft Bonanza 36 heading to Fayetteville crashed in northwest Winslow, killing pilot Edward Cooper, 46; his daughters Mary Cooper, 16, and Elizabeth Cooper, 14; and Martin Draper, 57. All four lived in Hot Springs, where Edward Cooper and Draper were dentists.
By Sunday afternoon, Washington County sheriff’s deputies and Federal Aviation Administration investigators hadn’t yet determined what caused the 1.5-ton aircraft to hurl downward, its nose perpendicular to the ground, before smashing into a rural backyard minutes before its scheduled landing at Drake Field in Fayetteville.
Determining the cause of such an accident “usually takes several months, up to a year,” said Lynn Lunsford, an FAA spokesman.
The National Transportation Safety Board has taken the lead in the crash’s investigation because of the fatalities, Lunsford added. That agency, which did not have a representative available for comment Sunday evening, will file a preliminary accident report within a couple of weeks, he said.
The four aboard had left Hot Springs at 11:02 a.m. to attend a University of Arkansas basketball game against Auburn on Saturday afternoon, said Robert Barnett, a Hot Springs dentist and friend of Edward Cooper and Draper.
It was to be another adventure for the “vivacious,” high-energy Edward Cooper, said Barnett, 56.
“He was going someplace all the time” in his planes, whether to a Razorbacks game, dentistry convention or his duck club, Barnett said. A couple of weeks ago, Cooper flew to Fayetteville to attend the initiation of his son, Edward Perry Cooper, into a fraternity at the University of Arkansas, Barnett added.
It was in that same Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter that Cooper developed a friendship with U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., who said he was planning to meet Cooper at the Razorbacks game. Pryor drove to Hot Springs to comfort the family when he heardabout the crash, he said.
Cooper “had so many friends in so many places,” Barnett said. “His death will touch every corner of the state.”
Cooper wanted those friends to share in his highflying, good times, friends said. “We dreaded him putting the pressure on us to fly with him, but hell, we’d all do it,” said Barnett, who recalled flying with Cooper many times. “You couldn’t say ‘no’ to him.”
Barnett didn’t recall Draper and Cooper flying together before Saturday’s flight.
“It’s a real tragedy, and the families need all our support and prayers as they go through this rough time,” Hot Springs Mayor Mike Bush said.
Draper had practiced family dentistry in Hot Springs since 1979. The El Dorado native was “always fun and loud” and “a very good dentist,” Barnett said. Draper’s son, Dayton, attends Lake Hamilton High School, headded.
Elizabeth and Mary Cooper, who were in eighth and 10th grades at Lakeside junior high and high schools, were active in cheerleading, Pryor said.
“Losing his two beautiful daughters is really more than words can express,” said Pryor, who recalled at least 50 teenagers passing through their home Saturday night, hugging and praying with Cheryl Cooper, Edward Cooper’s wife of more than 20 years.
Edward Cooper, a Little Rock native who had practiced for at least 10 years as one of the few oral and maxillofacial surgeons in the Hot Springs area, had been “meticulous” in his flight preparations since he started flying three or four years ago, Barnett said. He always made sure to have backup equipment in flight, Barnett said.
“You could hardly sit down he had so many instruments,” he said.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/08/2010