A single-engine,
four-seat plane piloted by a Jupiter man crashed Friday in North Carolina, killing his mother and brother-in-law and critically injuring his sister.

Edward Sasso, former owner of Sasso Air Conditioning in Lake Worth, was making a second attempt to land his Cirrus SR22 aircraft in light rain when the plane went down near a small-town airport, a witness said.

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He was flying a plane similar to the one in which New York Yankees' pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor died when it crashed into a New York high-rise this month. Both models are equipped with an emergency parachute that could glide a plane to the ground.

Friday's crash killed Sasso's mother, Josephine Tims, 84, and his brother-in-law Gary Lutman, 54, both of Palm Beach Gardens.

The pilot's sister and Lutman's wife of seven months, Cecile Sasso, 50, was in critical condition at a North Carolina hospital Saturday night. She is the U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman in West Palm Beach

Sasso, 54, was in fair condition.

His son, Edward, said from North Carolina Saturday, "My dad, he will make a full recovery. His spirits are not good."

Family and friends rushed to the defense of Sasso, a certified pilot for at least six years, after the accident in Statesville about 41 miles north of Charlotte.

"People on the ground have no idea what's happening in inclement weather," said Harry Strunk, a friend of the family. "There was bad weather. The man who was flying was very seasoned. And stuff happens."

Ted Lopatkiewicz, a spokesman with the National Transportation Safety Board, which will investigate the crash, said a witness told investigators the plane increased its engine power, turned right and then left before falling to the ground.

Thomas Hazel, a manager at the Statesville Flying Service, who saw the crash, said, "He made one attempt to land, but didn't land. I don't know why.

Then, he was circling the airport, in and out of the clouds.

"Then, he crashed."

The weather conditions were apparently bad enough to change the pilot's course.

Sasso left the North Palm Beach General Aviation Airport about 9 a.m. Friday morning for the Lake Norman Airpark, about 30 miles north of Charlotte.

The Lake Norman facility does not have the landing equipment to guide the plane in rainy weather, Hazel said. The Statesville airport, where the crash occurred, does.

The equipment helps pilots guide their planes toward a proper landing, Hazel said. Sasso is certified in using the equipment, according to FAA records.

Both Sasso and his sister remained at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem Saturday night.