Peninsula Daily News news sources
SEQUIM — A Clallam County sheriff’s spokesman confirmed a second death in the crash of a single-engine plan near Sequim Valley Airport on Friday afternoon.
Spokesman Jim Borte identified the plane owner and pilot as 68-year-old Carroll Larson of Sequim. He said the passenger was 61-year-old Robert Reandeau Sr., also of Sequim.
According to witnesses, the pilot was practicing “touch and go” landing maneuvers Friday afternoon before the plane nosed down near the end of the runway and crashed in a muddy field.
The two-seat Van’s RV8 was built in 2008.
Borte says both Larson and his passenger had hangar space at the airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
Friday’s first PDN report
By Diane Urbani de la Paz
Peninsula Daily News
SEQUIM — One man was confirmed dead in a single-engine plane crash just north of the Sequim Valley Airport this afternoon.
Lt. Robert Rhoads of the Clallam County Fire District No. 3 said that investigators are unsure the man was alone in the plane, and are investigating to find out if a second person was aboard.
The name of the deceased man will be released after his next-of-kin is notified.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash, which happened around 2:10 p.m., Rhoads said.
The plane, which lay crumpled in a field behind a house at 5612 Old Olympic Highway beside the airport, was a two-seater. Its make and model were still undetermined today.
The pilot was apparently performing “touch-and-go maneuvers,” said Jim Borte, spokesman for the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
Why the light plane went down was unknown this afternoon.
Jim Parker, whose home is next to the field where the plane crashed, said he heard a loud crash, then went outside to see that the craft had hit the muddy field nose first.
“All that’s left is the tail,” Parker said.
Andy Sallee, president of the Sequim Valley Airport, said that until now, there had never been a fatality at or near the airport since it opened in 1983.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.One person has died in a crash of a small plane at the Sequim Valley Airport.
