- By
- ALISON FOX
- and
- WILL JAMES
The children, 13-year-old Sade Brantley and 1-year-old Madisyn Mitchell, were inside 68 Charter Oak Avenue when the plane crashed into the house, killing both, East Haven police confirmed.
The pilot, former Microsoft executive William Henningsgaard, 54, and his son, Maxwell, 17, were killed when the plane overshot the runway at the local airport and blasted into two houses, National Transportation Safety Board officials and family members said. The father, from Medina, Wash., and son were on a trip touring colleges on the east coast.
The plane also struck 64 Charter Oak Avenue, but no one was home at the time of the crash.
Anthony Moscato of the East Haven Fire Department said authorities believe that there were no other victims.
"It was very tragic," said East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo at a noon news conference.
Mr. Maturo said there was a neighbor, named David Espisito, who ran into the house when the Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B hit at 11:25 a.m. on Friday and was able to help get the mother out.
The houses will be torn down by Monday or Tuesday, Mr. Maturo said.
One neighbor said the mother was hardworking and protective of her children.
Ms. Brantley was a "very respectful kid," said Antoinette Hernandez, 37, who said her daughter was friends with the 13-year-old.
As for the mother, Ms. Hernandez said, "She's a really good mother and it's sad. It's surreal."
Joseph Euskolitz, 51, lives several doors away from the stricken houses.
"I heard it and I felt it," he said about the plane's impact. "All I heard was a burst of air, like a wind tunnel. It literally shook my whole house."
At a 5 p.m. news conference, Patrick Murray, the NTSB investigator in charge of the scene, said that the pilot gave no signs of distress before going down.
Mr. Henningsgaard was making an instrument—or "eyeless" -- approach into Tweed New Haven Airport in rainy weather when air-traffic controllers lost touch with him, Mr. Murray said.
Air-traffic controllers asked the pilot if he could see the runway, and he responded that he could, Mr. Murray said.
"From there, I imagine a few seconds later, they lost transmission with the airplane," Mr. Murray said.
The pilot "did not declare an in-flight emergency" before crashing upside-down into the two houses. The crash occurred on his first attempt to land at the airport, Mr. Murray said.
The plane was a few degrees off for the centerline of the runway, in position to turn onto the runway, when air-traffic controllers lost contact, Mr. Murray said.
The plane was removed from the site on Saturday and was taken to a secure facility for an investigation, Mr. Murray said.
The jet-fueled aircraft contained a warning system that could give investigators important information about the plane's position, altitude and speed at the time of the crash, Mr. Murray said.
The pilot "was rated for instrument flight" and "had a multi-engine certificate, which allowed him to fly the plane that he was flying," Mr. Murray said.
Investigators will also probe the plane's maintenance records and other potential factors in the crash in the coming weeks, he said.
In 2009, Mr. Henningsgaard was piloting a small plane in Oregon and crash landed in the Columbia River, according to an Associated Press report on the incident.
The plane malfunctioned and Mr. Henningsgaard was forced to land in the river. He and another passenger had to be rescued.
Mr. Henningsgaard wrote a first person account of that crash in May 2009 that was posted on the website of Social Ventures Partners, a network of philanthropists that he was affiliated with.
A vigil for the victims was held at 7 p.m. Saturday night at Margaret Tucker Park in East Haven. During the service, attended by hundreds of people, Mr. Maturo interrupted a speech when he spotted the mother of the two deceased girls in the crowd.
"I have been in contact with the pilot's wife, I have been in contact with the little girls' mom," Mr. Maturo said. "All things considered, as you might well know, they're doing as well as could be. The mom is with friends and family in another community, until she can get back to this community."
Then voices from the crowd interrupted him.
"Oh, the mother is here," Mr. Maturo said.
He then walked into the crowd and embraced her.
The mother rested her head against a man's shoulder throughout the vigil. She did not comment, and left sobbing at the end.
"Tonight's vigil is a profound statement of the ties that bind East Haven and our entire state together as one community. When a family suffers an unimaginable tragedy, we come together and pray that they have the strength they need to carry on," Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families tonight who are suffering from grief and loss," he added.
