Investigation under way in Guard commander’s crash

Topeka ? The investigation into a plane crash that killed the commander of the 190th Air Refueling Wing of the Kansas Air National Guard is likely to take six to 12 months.

“We are in the fact-finding stage,” said Ed Malinowski, National Transportation Safety Board air safety investigator.

Col. Mike O’Toole, 51, had just taken off from a private airstrip near his family’s neighborhood when the single-engine, four-passenger Cessna 182 went down Friday in a wooded area in northeast Shawnee County.

O’Toole, the pilot, was dead at the scene. His wife, Pamela, and daughter, Shannon, survived.

The family had been heading for Pittsburg to visit Pam O’Toole’s brother, according to Joy Moser, spokeswoman for the Kansas National Guard.

Mike O’Toole had been commander of the 900-member 190th Air Refueling Wing since July 14, 2002. Colleagues said he was an accomplished pilot with more than 6,900 flight hours logged in military aircraft.

Malinowski and representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration, Cessna and the engine manufacturer are reconstructing O’Toole’s plane.

Col. Gregg A. Burden, logistics group commander, was appointed acting commander Friday by Maj. Gen. Greg Gardner. Col. Terry Fritz, 190th vice commander, was on a family vacation at the time of O’Toole’s death.

Moser said Fritz would be named acting commander when he returned to Topeka.

O’Toole enlisted in the 190th in May 1970 and served for three years as an aircraft fuel-systems specialist. He received an Air Force ROTC scholarship at Washburn University in Topeka and was commissioned in 1975.

He was on active duty as a personnel officer until 1979, when he rejoined the 190th and attended undergraduate pilot training. He returned to Topeka where he served as a traditional Guardsman until 1985 when he was hired as an instructor pilot.

The 190th Air Refueling Wing has its headquarters at Forbes Field in Topeka with 10 KC-135 tankers, which refuel aircraft in flight. The 184th Air Refueling Wing also is based at Forbes.

Members of the 190th have been in Europe during the current Iraq conflict, refueling military aircraft.

Topeka (ap) — Funeral services were set for 11 a.m. Thursday at Grace Episcopal Cathedral for the commander of the Kansas National Guard’s 190th Air Refueling Wing.Col. Mike O’Toole, 51, died Friday when his single-engine, four-passenger Cessna 182 went down in a wooded area in northeast Shawnee County, shortly after taking off from a private airstrip. He was dead at the scene and his wife, Pamela, and daughter, Shannon, both passengers, were injured.O’Toole is to be buried at Rochester Cemetery after the service.