Children killed in plane crash near Hood Canal ‘absolutely loved to fly’
Jan 2, 2017, 6:15 AM | Updated: 6:27 am
Authorities say it could take up to a month to determine the cause of a plane crash that killed four people near Hood Canal. (KIRO 7)
(KIRO 7)
Counselors will be available at Bellingham Elementary School where two children, who were killed in a plane crash near Hood Canal, were students.
A 9-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl were killed along with their grandmother and her fiance after their plane went down last Thursday.
Authorities in Jefferson County say 63-year-old Sequim pharmacist Jon Bernhoft was the pilot aboard the small plane. His 61-year-old fiancee was identified as Carla Parke.
Parke’s brother-in-law, Larry Van Dyk, says Bernhoft installed bubble windows in the back of the plane so the kids could have an unobstructed view when they flew.
“They absolutely loved to fly,” he said.
The aircraft left Boeing Field in Seattle for Port Angeles just after 6 p.m. Thursday and lost contact with air traffic control about 45 minutes later.
Searchers found the single-engine Cessna and four bodies in a heavily wooded ravine in Jefferson County Friday morning.
The Peninsula Daily News reports that officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board worked Saturday to extract the wreckage from the ravine. The NTSB lead investigator says it could take a month before they announce a preliminary cause of the crash.
The Associated Press and KIRO 7 contributed to this story.
