Pilots Killed in Crash at Final Stop of Peace Tour of 48 State Capitals
Two senior-citizen pilots died Friday when their small plane crashed a mile short of the last stop on their peace-promoting tour of 48 state capitals.
The pilots, in a single-engine Mooney M-20J, crashed near Yeager Airport at 8:35 a.m., airport Assistant Manager Danny Huffman said.
The victims, identified as Marjorie Van Vliet, 67, of Warwick, R.I., and Frank Martineau, 69, of Bethesda, Md., had taken off from Providence, R.I., on May 29, on a tour sponsored by the Friendship Assn. of Warwick.
Martineau and Van Vliet were co-founders of the group, which says it works to bring “ordinary people together for permanent peace.”
Huffman said the couple was trying an instrument approach to the airport because of heavy fog and rain.
“Everything was fine,” Huffman said. “There was nothing to give the tower people any indication there was a problem of any kind. They went down without any warning. The tower simply lost contact.”
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