Fog and freezing rain have emerged as the most likely causes of a plane crash that killed four Kane County residents, an air safety investigator said Wednesday.
“That’s something we’re looking at,” National Transportation Safety Board investigator David Bowling said. He called Monday night’s bad weather “a definite factor” in why the Piper Saratoga went down in a muddy cornfield near Hampshire.
The victims–pilot Clyde Huntington Jr., his wife, Christine, and another couple, Thomas and Doreen Torrance–were neighbors, aviation buffs and friends who had traveled to Disney World and back on the Huntingtons’ plane.
They started their return Monday in Orlando, refueled in Muscle Shoals, Ala., and by 6:38 p.m. were cleared by federal flight controllers for landing at their Casa de Aero subdivision in Hampshire Township.
Surrounded by farm fields, the Kane County subdivision is a collection of about 40 houses built around a private airstrip.
Thirteen minutes later, the single-engine, six-seat craft crashed less than 2 miles from their destination. The wreckage was discovered Tuesday. Authorities said the impact probably killed all four instantly.
More Top Picks Best Fermentation Heating Pads
Investigators found ice one-quarter of an inch thick on the leading edges of the plane’s tail and right wing–enough to impede the plane’s lift, Bowling said at the DuPage County Airport, where investigators are examining the wreckage.
But Bowling cautioned that authorities have yet to examine the plane’s engine or instruments for malfunctions.
As a wet Christmas Eve snow blanketed the farm fields of rural northern Kane County, family and friends of the two couples struggled with a holiday that had turned sorrowful.
“From here on out this is what we’ll remember Christmas by,” said Donald Huntington, Clyde Huntington’s brother. “But they were of strong faith, and we’ll also remember where they’re at.”
Clyde Huntington, 50, and his wife, 49, had been married 29 years. He was vice president and co-owner of Lakeside Equipment, a Bartlett maker of water-treatment equipment.
Thomas Torrance, 45, owned Hauschildt Industries, a Marengo electrical contracting company.
Last year, the Torrances’ 12-year-old son was killed when he was struck by a taxiing airplane in Casa de Aero.
“Tom hadn’t really gotten over his son’s death,” said Evelyn Hauschildt, the mother of Torrance’s first wife, Joyce, who died in 1980. “I just talked to Doreen at the shop and she said he just had to be busy.”
The Huntingtons and Torrances shared a love of flying. Thomas Torrance built his own two-seat plane. The Huntingtons’ Christmas card had a picture of an antique plane.
And both families chose to live in a “fly-in” subdivision, where homes have attached airplane hangars , streets have names like Aileron Avenue and the wind socks are more than decorations.
Clyde Huntington is survived by a son, Brian; a daughter, Kimberly; his mother; two brothers; two sisters; and a grandmother. Christine Huntington is survived by her children and a sister.
Visitation for the Huntingtons will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday and 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday in Marengo-Union Funeral Home, 505 E. Grant Highway, Marengo. Services will be held at 11 a.m. in Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 340 Grand Blvd., Elgin.
Thomas Torrance is survived by two daughters, Jennifer Perez, and Lisa; his parents; a sister; two brothers; and a granddaughter. Doreen Torrance, 40, is survived by her daughters, her granddaughter and eight brothers and sisters.
Visitation for the Torrances will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, and from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Zion Lutheran Church, 408 Jackson St., Marengo. Services will follow the Saturday visitation.