Mark Revet Killed In Plane Crash

by Bea Peterson
Reports from Tallahassee, FL, list former Hoosick resident Mark Revet, 58, as one of two people killed when a single engine plane crashed in the National Forest northwest of the Tallahassee Regional Airport Wednesday night, November 3. The Leon County Sheriff’s Office and Tallahassee Fire Department responded to the crash. Deputies were reportedly able to find the wreckage by following spot fires in the surrounding area. Fire officials say there was no indication of fire in the main body of the aircraft. Both men in the aircraft were skilled, licensed pilots. Michael Piette, 63, of Tallahassee, had been flying for more than 10 years. Mark Revet had a commercial pilot certificate to fly single engine, multi-engine and instrument planes and a flight instructor certificate for single engine planes.
Revet, who lived at 128 China Doll Drive in Tallahassee, was on the start-up team of Pro BioDiesel, a company working to bring biodiesel refineries to North Florida. He also had business interests in real estate and insurance.
On Wednesday, the day of the crash, the pilots were working on traffic patterns, practicing taking off and landing in a Cessna 172S single engine plane rented from Eagle Air Corp. They had taken off shortly before the control tower saw fire in the woods just a mile from the airport. There were no calls of distress to the airport control tower before they went down. Their shallow descent could be clearly seen in the path of freshly broken trees leading up to the burnt wreckage.
Senior Safety Investigator Brian Rayner of the National Transportation Safety Board, who is investigating the crash, said that everything sounded very routine. The last time the tower heard from the plane was when one of the pilots called in their call sign. Rayner is creating a preliminary report to determine the cause of the crash. At this point, there is no indication of any mechanical problems or which man was flying the plane. Rayner said debris from the crash was strewn over 200 yards and the cockpit was badly damaged by the impact and subsequent fire.