A recent Northeastern University graduate from Long Island has died in a plane crash while helping to tackle bushfires in the Australian outback.
Only child William Joseph Jennings, 22, was among three killed when their twin-engine Turbo Commander plummeted 190,000 feet in northwest Queensland at around 2 p.m. local time Friday, Australian officials confirmed.
The thrill-seeking Dix Hills native had only arrived Down Under just over two weeks earlier for a new job mapping the devastating fires ripping through the region.
He had earlier texted his dad to tell him he was traveling to a new base in Mount Isa from Toowoomba — before going silent, with his family seeing on Find My iPhone the next day that he did not appear to have made the move.
“I sent a text, got no response — which never happens,” dad Joe Jennings told Newsday of his son. “Call it father’s intuition, but I knew something was very wrong.”
The dad was still pacing the floor as his wife, Denise Jennings, waited upstairs when a Suffolk County police sergeant and two officers knocked on the door to say “there’s been an aviation accident.”
“I started screaming, saying, ‘This can’t be real. It has to be a mistake,’” mom Denise said of the harrowing news that her only child was dead.
“He was our pride and joy,” the mom said. “He was always smiling, was such a happy young man, so smart, but so kind and humble.”
Dad Joe told Newsday that his son “was our life.”
“He was a AAA kid — athletics, academics and arts,” his dad said of the “natural musician” who also ran track at Hills West, graduating with honors in 2019.
The younger Jennings had originally taken an internship working on thermal imaging cameras in Hood River, Oregon following college graduation, when he earned a degree in mechanical engineering.
After that ended, he was working on railroad surveillance in Arizona, when he got a call to go to Australia and work for fire fighting company AGAIR, since he was already familiar with its aerial surveillance technology.
“Will was just an adventurer, and so he jumped at it,” his dad said.
“It happened so quickly, but he wanted to go,” said his mom of the son who “loved to travel, he loved the outdoors, he loved photography.”
In Australia, Will was said to be proud of his work — telling his mother at one point, “I can tell my children that their dad was a badass because I was in Australia helping fight the wildfire,” the Boston Globe said.
The Australian government said the plane crash is now under investigation by the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau, which could take weeks or months.
Australian officials told Jennings’ parents that the plane fell from an altitude of 190,000 feet in just about one minute, his dad said.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services expressed its grief in a statement on Saturday.
“Side by side, we have been fighting these bushfires as one, and their loss is felt by all,” the statement said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and those who worked alongside them, including our Air Operations personnel.”
Australian Prime Minister also expressed his condolences to the victims’ families in a post on X.
“Terribly sad that three brave souls working to help their fellow Australians have lost their lives in Queensland,” he wrote, describing the crash as “a tragic reminder of the dangers those on the front line of bushfires face.
“Heartfelt condolences to their loved ones and colleagues in this time of grief.”
On Long Island, friends and family are remembering Will as a gifted photographer and saxophonist who once played with his school jazz band at Carnegie Hall.
He would often FaceTime with his parents from mountaintops he had hiked.
An online fundraiser set up to pay for his funeral expenses and the cost of shipping his remains back to the United States says he “was known to bring light to any room he walked into, and his sense of humor was infectious.
“He was full of life and potential, and left a mark on everyone he met,” reads the fundraiser, which has netted more than $79,000 for the family.
Denise Jennings said her son’s death has left “a hole in our hearts that’s never going to heal.
“But we have no regrets,” she said. “Every conversation we ever had ended with, ‘I love you.’ He was such a loving son.”
“We’re so grateful for the 22 years we had with him. They were the best years ever.”