Friday, August 31, 2018

Carolyn Nowakowski, Tom Seine, Henry Nowakowski and Patsy Nowakowski onboard killed after civilian 1976 Beech B60 Duke plane owned/operated by Henry Leasing Co LLC crashes at Eglin Air Force Base

 Carolyn Nowakowski, second from left, died in the crash

 Carolyn Nowakowski, left, died in the crash


 Tom Seine, also died in the crash

 Pat Nowakowski and Henry Nowakowski
 

By Annie Blanks
By Jim Thompson

August 30, 2018


EGLIN AFB, FLORIDA — 








Four family members died when a twin-engine civilian propeller plane crashed Thursday morning on Eglin Air Force Base property, two miles short of the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport runway to which it had apparently diverted.

Limited information was available Thursday on the people who were killed in the crash. Authorities identified the pilot as Henry Nowakowski; his wife, Patsy; his sister, Carolyn, and Tom Saine. The four victims reportedly have connections to Ohio, but no detailed information on their residences or their ages was immediately available Thursday from local authorities.

Other family members were awaiting the arrival of the four people aboard the airplane at Destin Executive Airport, and the next of kin were notified there of the deaths in the crash, according to call records from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

The plane, a Beechcraft B-60 registered to Henry Leasing Company in Ottawa Lake, Michigan, left Ohio’s Toledo Express Airport at 7:46 a.m.. It was scheduled to arrive at Destin Executive Airport at 10:14 a.m., according to the FlightRadar24 aircraft tracking website.

It was initially thought the pilot was the only person aboard. But witnesses at Toledo Express Airport told authorities they had seen four people, including the pilot, boarding the plane, according to Eglin spokesman Andy Bourland.

There also were early indications from the crash site that more than one person had been aboard the plane. As emergency personnel arrived and searched the scene, they found two passports, according to the Sheriff’s Office call records. By shortly after 2:30 p.m., call records indicated that there were “possibly 4 souls on board.”

Emergency personnel were working Thursday afternoon at the crash scene to recover the bodies, Bourland said.

FlightRadar24 shows that at some point, the Beechcraft diverted to nearby Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport from its intended landing at Destin Executive Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the plane crashed during what initially had been its approach to Runway 14 at Destin Executive Airport.
 
The plane went down under cloudy skies in a heavily wooded area on the Eglin reservation west of General Bond Boulevard. A narrow plume of smoke could be seen rising from the crash site as Air Force and civilian emergency crews scrambled across the area, sometimes in heavy rain, to get to the crash scene.

According to Sheriff’s Office call records, emergency personnel initially responded to an area on Ranger Camp Road off Lewis Turner Boulevard, but subsequently went to an area near the interchange at State Roads 85 and 123 near Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport. A helicopter located the crash site shortly before 11:30 a.m., according to call records.

By 11 a.m., emergency personnel, mostly from Eglin, had set up a staging area on the muddy, rain-soaked ground inside a fenced area near the interchange. According to call records, an Eglin firefighting crew was able to walk to the crash site and arrived shortly before 11:45 a.m. The plane was still burning when the firefighters arrived, according to Eglin spokeswoman Jasmine Porterfield.

By early Thursday afternoon, an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board was en route to the crash site from Dallas, according to NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson. The investigator was expected to be on the scene late Thursday or early Friday morning, Knudson said.

A preliminary NTSB report on the crash, including information on air traffic control communications and other aspects of the ill-fated flight, could be released within the next couple weeks, Knudson said. It could take anywhere from 12 to 24 months for a more detailed report fully explaining the circumstances of the crash to be released, Knudson said.


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Plane Crash Under Investigation at Eglin Air Force Base

By:
Brady Calhoun



Updated: Aug 30, 2018 02:48 PM EDT
 

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. -


 Eglin Air Force officials say one person is dead after a plane crash in a heavily wooded area on the base.

A Beachcraft BE 60 was on its way to the Destin Executive Airport from Toledo, Ohio when it crashed this morning.

Eglin officials say they are still investigating the incident and at this time there is only one victim.

This is a developing story and we will have more information as it becomes available.


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Four people killed after civilian plane crashes at Eglin Air Force Base
from staff reports 


August 30, 2018



(Photo: Nick Tomecek, AP)


Military officials have confirmed four people are dead after a small civilian aircraft crashed Thursday morning in a remote area of the Eglin Air Force Base.

Jasmine Porterfield, spokeswoman for the base, said emergency crews had to enter the densely wooded crash site on foot shortly after the incident was reported at about 10:35 a.m. The crash site was about two miles northwest of the base's main runway.

Porterfield said the aircraft involved in the crash was a Beechcraft B60 that was based in Toledo, Ohio. Flight records show the plane departed from the Toledo Express Airport in Ohio, according to The Associated Press.


Eglin officials confirmed that multiple people died after a plane crashed on the Eglin reservation Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018. (Photo: Nick Tomecek, AP)

Earlier in the day, authorities reported one fatality based on the flight plan filed in Toledo and physical evidence. An evening update provided by Eglin confirmed there were four fatalities.

Officials did not have information Thursday evening on the identities of those killed.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office notified the next of kin at about 3:15 p.m., and the remains of the four people killed will be turned over to the District One Medical Examiner for Okaloosa County, according to Eglin's evening update.


Eglin officials confirmed that multiple people died after a plane crashed on the Eglin reservation Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018. (Photo: Nick Tomecek, AP)

Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said Thursday that investigators were headed to the crash site and should be on scene Friday morning.

Knudson said the aircraft crashed while approaching the Destin Executive Airport.

AP reported the plane is registered to Henry Leasing Company in Ottawa Lake, Michigan.



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DRIP, DRIP, DRIP: SMALL PLANE CRASHES CONTINUE TO SUCK AWAY THE LIFE OF MANY PILOTS AND PASSENGERS

Narrative:
 
The aircraft impacted woodland while on approach to land at Eglin Air Force Base/Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (KVPS) in Valparaiso/Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The airplane sustained substantial damage. All four occupants, the pilot and three passengers, died in the crash.

 

Sources:

https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/plane-crash-under-investigation-at-eglin-air-force-base/1406959710
https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2018/08/30/eglin-first-responders-scene-small-plane-crash-north-destin-airport/1144409002/?from=new-cookie
http://www.newsherald.com/news/20180830/update-one-killed-in-plane-crash-plane-departed-from-toledo-ohio-this-morning/1
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N1876L
www.foxnews.com
https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=1876L
http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/001180188.html
Date:30-AUG-2018
Time:-11:00 LT
Type:Beech B60 Duke
Owner/operator:Henry Leasing Co LLC
Registration: N1876L
C/n / msn: P-386
Fatalities:Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:0
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Location:Eglin Air Force Base/Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport (KVPS), FL -   United States of America
Phase: Approach
Nature:Unknown
Departure airport:Toledo Express (KTOL)
Destination airport:Eglin AFB/Destin-Fort Walton Beach (KVPS)