Update: Air Force pilot killed in plane crash identified
A 27-year-old service member and a civilian instructor pilot were killed when their twin-engine Beechcraft Baron crashed on Sunday.
According to Saunders County Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz, the plane went down in a bean field in Saunders County village of Leshara, Nebraska at about 3 p.m.
The identities of the service member, who was assigned to Offutt Air Force Base, and the 61-year-old instructor will not be release until the next of kin have been notified.
Staff Sgt. Rachelle Blake, from Offutt Air Force Base, said the aircraft was one of seven planes owned by the flight training center- formerly known as the Offutt Aero Club.
The center provides aircraft rental and Federal Aviation Administration-approved flight instruction, according to the Omaha World Herald.
Blake said the plane that crashed was built in 1962 and had accumulated 18,000 flight hours. Apparently the training center normally operates at the base but due to repairs to the base’s airfield it was moved to Millard Airport.
Offut Air base is home to the 55th Wing whose mission “is to provide dominant intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance; electronic attack; command and control; and precision awareness to national leadership and warfighters across the spectrum of conflict any time, any place.”
The Air Force’s Thunderbirds are scheduled to conduct an air show during the Defenders of Freedom Open House and Air Show at the base this weekend.
The FAA is investigating the crash.
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