Two people killed when a small plane crashed into an Oregon home have been identified as a 20-year-old student pilot and his 22-year-old instructor.
Barrett Bevacqua and Michele Cavallotti, an instructor with the Hillsboro Aero Academy, died after the single-engine plane went down in Newberg, a small city about 25 miles southwest of Portland, police said.
A third occupant, student pilot Emily Hurd, 20, was airlifted to a hospital with serious injuries.
Dramatic video taken late Tuesday showed the Piper Seminal spiraling straight down toward the ground.
The aircraft crashed through the roof of a home with its wreckage strewn partially inside the house and in the backyard, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue said in a statement.
“Barrett was a shining star. We’re blessed that we had 20 amazing years with him,” Bevacqua’s dad, Matt, told KGW, adding that all three plane occupants were roommates.
Barrett and Hurd were part of the Horizon Air Ascend Pilot Academy, which trains students to earn their commercial pilot licenses — and partners with Hillsboro Aero Academy.
Loved ones said Barrett, a Lakeridge High School graduate, had dreamed of becoming a pilot since he was 2, but also was passionate about football, baseball, singing, cooking and hunting.
“He was a renaissance man,” Matt Bevacqua told the outlet about his son. “He brightened up a room, he had a smile that just melted you. He made other people better.”
Friends of survivor Hurd said she started school at the Hillsboro Aero Academy this year and has been pursuing her goal to become a commercial pilot.
“You see them on the news, and you’re like, ‘Oh wow, that much sucks,’ and then you see that video of the plane spiraling down, and you know that’s your friend in the cockpit. It’s hard to believe,” Josiah Neale, a longtime friend of Hurd, told KXLY.
He described Hurd as someone who never shies away from adventure.
“At first, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, of course, she survived,’ and then the more I thought about it, I was like, ‘Oh, wow’. That’s truly just a gift from God. God has a plan for her,” Neale told the outlet.
NTSB officials said Hurd was in the back seat during the training flight. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
“We look at all facets of flight, and this was an instructional flight, so they could have been doing a maneuver at this point. We just don’t know,” an agency officials said Wednesday, KXLY reported.
Hurd’s family said she had emergency surgery for a broken back, was was still under sedation.
No one in the home on North Cedar Street, or on the ground, was hurt in the crash, officials said.
In a statement, Hillsboro Aero Academy said it is “deeply saddened to report an aircraft accident that resulted in the deaths of two members of our aviation community and serious injury to a third. We can confirm that one of our aircraft on a training flight crashed near the town of Newberg.
“The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has commenced its investigation, and we will not be able to comment further while the investigation is ongoing,” it said.
“This is a profoundly challenging time for our community as we process this event and support each other in our grief. Our thoughts and prayers are with all who are impacted, especially the families and loved ones of those involved,” the academy added.
With Post Wires