Deadly Plane Crash in Hankamer

By Gloria Way

  Larry Motte, an experienced pilot from La Porte, Texas was killed Saturday afternoon, May 24^th, along with his 15-year-old grandson, when the Rockwell Commander 114A he was piloting crashed into a heavily wooded area just south of I-10 and FM 1724.

  According to sources, Motte and his grandson departed Baytown Airport at approximately 4:30pm Saturday afternoon for a local flight. Data shows the aircraft flying an erratic track near Anahuac, and at one point climbed to a maximum altitude of 4,200 feet util it entered a high-rate steep descent then crashed into a heavily wooded area. Data shows a rate of descent of over 14,000 ft/minute at over 200 kts. The last data report was at 4:57pm.

  Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said both the plane wreckage and the bodies were discovered Sunday morning. “It is total devastation,” reported Hawthorne.

  The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is on site investigating the accident.