Three people from Mexico died Thursday when their plane crashed during a training exercise near Lansing.
The victims were identified as two customer pilots and a maintenance representative from Duncan Aviation. A company spokesperson said the crash occurred during a stall flight, where pilots practice recovering from aircraft stalls.
The plane went down around 5 p.m. on Oct. 16 in a remote area of Bath Township.
Emergency responders struggled to reach the crash site. “It’s a very wooded, very secluded area. It was a significant distance off the road. It was not accessible by even four-wheel drive trucks,” officials said. “We had to use saws and manpower to blaze a trail all the way back to even access the site itself.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are coordinating the investigation. At a Sunday press conference, officials noted that federal workers at the site are not being paid due to the government shutdown.
“I would encourage Congress and the president to reopen the federal government so that communities like ours can get the full support that we need, and so that federal employees are getting the paycheck for the work that they are doing on behalf of the entire Bath community,” officials said.
The township supervisor has been in contact with the victims’ families and assured them that first responders took the best possible care of their loved ones in the tragic situation.