Newport mayor likely at fault for running out of fuel on flight that crash-landed, feds say Updated Mar 11, 2021; By Kenneth Lipp, Newport News-Times NEWPORT — Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer’s 2019 plane crash was probably caused by his failure to verify the aircraft’s fuel levels prior to a whale-watching flight, federal investigators said, and he ran out of fuel, forcing an emergency landing that seriously injured one of two passengers. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board also found that Sawyer failed to renew his medical certification since 2006, had not undergone the mandatory two-year flight review for five or six years and did not subject his small aircraft to required annual inspection for four years.