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Flagstaff Airport Plane Crash Kills Two *UPDATE

Coconino County Sheriff's Office Patrol MapFlagstaff AZ (May 28, 2013)*UPDATE May 29, 2013, at 3:09 p.m. Arizona time, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office advised that the plane crash victims have been identified.

The two victims of the Beechcraft model 336 single engine airplane that crashed in the residential neighborhood of Mountainaire were tentatively identified as its owner and pilot 59-year-old Matthew Sullivan Mezger of Sacramento, California, and his wife 54 year-old Mary Patricia Hughes, also of Sacramento.

This ongoing investigation revealed that the two victims departed Sacramento on May 25, and arrived at the Pulliam Airport located in Flagstaff on the same afternoon. The two spent the weekend in Flagstaff and flew out of the Pulliam Airport on Tuesday, May 28, at about 11:45 a.m. with the intended destination of Bryce Canyon, Utah. **

End update, original story as follows:

Coconino County Sheriff’s Office received a call that an airplane had crashed near the community of Mountainaire at approximately 11:45 a.m. today, from a citizen who witnessed the crash and fire. Before arrival of emergency responders, several citizens attempted to extinguish the crash flames and help the plane’s occupants.

The two passengers on-board the plane are reported deceased on scene.

The airplane is reported to be a small single engine plane, privately owned and with a California registration. The plane had attempted take off from Pullium Airport in Flagstaff, Arizona. The crash occurred south of the airport and within a hundred feet of residential structures in the Mountainaire community near the end of Tonawanda Road.

Fire crews of the Highlands Fire Department and the Bear Jaw Wildland Fire Crew responded to the crash and a wild fire ignited by the crash. The wild fire was contained at approximately a quarter of an acre. Several trees were in the path of the plane but no structures were damaged by the crash or the wild fire.

Multiple citizens as well as other agencies assisted the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office in the response, including Department of Public Safety Officers, DPS Ranger helicopter crew, US Forest Service Law Enforcement, US Forest Service wildland fire crews, Highlands Fire Department, Bear Jaw Wildland Fire Crew, and Guardian Medical Transport.

The identity of the occupants is still being determined and will not be released until notification of next of kin. Investigation of the plane crash will be conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

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2 Comments

  1. The Flagstaff airport is dangerous. Many times the big commuter airlines cancel flights in because of bad weather like high winds which is probably what contributed to this accident I’d guess because the winds were strong yesterday. The airport needs to ground private flights if winds are bad. I am so sorry for these people and grateful no homes were hit on the ground. God bless everyone.

  2. Ryan Barker says:

    2 planes hit each other in Phoenix in air on Friday & 4 dead, over lots of houses & highways !!! what’s going on up there in the air & at the controls of these planes? alcohol drugs or just plane stupid ?

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