An investigator from Beechcraft and Senior Air Safety Investigator Aaron Sauer examine the remains of a twin-engine Beechcraft Model 58 aircraft Thursday, July 15. The plane crashed when taking off from the Mackinac County Airport in St. Ignace Tuesday, July 13, and four of its five passengers were killed. The cause of a plane crash near the Mackinac County Airport in St. Ignace that took the lives of a grandfather and his three granddaughters, leaving his young grandson the sole survivor, is undetermined. The plane, a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron 58, crashed on takeoff about p.m. Tuesday, July 13, hitting the northbound lane of I-75, hitting median wire barrier, flipping over, and breaking up across the southbound lane, coming to rest on the shoulder.

The pilot, Moshe Menora, 73, of Skokie, Illinois, was killed, as were his granddaughters Rikki (Rebecca) Menora, 16, Rachel Menora, 14, and Sara Klein, 17, who were visiting from Israel. The pilot's grandson, Yossi (Nathaniel) Menora, 13, of Beit Shemesh, Israel, was ejected from the airplane and suffered burns. He was transported by Allied EMS to Mackinac Straits Health System and was later airlifted to the University of Michigan Hospital, where his condition is improving. He was upgraded from critical condition to serious condition, the hospital reported Monday, July 19.

The family had spent the day at Mackinac Island, leaving Chicago Executive Airport Tuesday morning and landing in St. Ignace, then on to the Island, said Aaron Sauer, senior safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. Tuesday afternoon, the plane left Mack- Mackinac Island for St. Ignace.

Before taking off from St. Ignace, bound for Chicago Executive Airport, the airplane made an initial pass at the runway, said Paul Fullerton, manager of the Mackinac County Airport, but Mr. Fullerton could not determine if it was an unsuccessful take-off attempt or a movement made by the pilot to chase seagulls from his course. The crash occurred on the second attempt, he said. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began investigating the crash scene Wednesday, July 14. The plane was later recovered from the side of I-75 Thursday afternoon by Myers Aviation of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The wreckage is under the control of the NTSB.

Mr. Sauer said the cause of the crash is unknown and will not be determined for six to nine months. The condition of the plane, the pilot's history and health, and environmental conditions will all be investigated, Mr. Sauer said.

Mike Kasper, the emergency services coordinator for Mackinac County, was an eyewitness to the crash on I-75 and immediately began coordinating fire, law enforcement, and emergency services to the scene.

“The flames were so intense you couldn't get close to the plane,” he said.

Several passing citizens also stopped at the site and offered the young survivor water and helped keep him calm while stopping him from re-entering the accident area, Mr. Kasper said.

“I would love to shake their hands and say thank you,” he said of the helpers.

Southbound I-75 was closed from about 5:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. and traffic was routed through downtown St. Ignace.

In Skokie, a suburb of Chicago, Mr. Menora was remembered by the close-knit Jewish Orthodox community as one of its most charitable members at a service that filled the Congregation Or Torah to overflowing Wednesday, July 14, the Skokie Review reported. He was eulogized as a humble, generous man, a hard worker whose family and community were among his top concerns, according to the Skokie newspaper. An open telephone line brought the eulogies of the funeral gathering to friends and families listening in Israel, where the grandchildren lived and where Mr. Menora was born. In Israel, hundreds of mourners turned out for the funerals of the three girls in Beit Shemesh, the Haaretz Newspaper reported Friday. Mr. Menora and his grandchildren were buried near Jerusalem Friday afternoon. Mr. Menora leaves a wife of 50 years, Sema, and the couple has three grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.