A Seguin couple was killed Thursday morning when the small plane they were flying crashed into a heavily wooded area moments after taking off from an airfield in Bogalusa, Louisiana. William “Bill” Day, 68, and his wife Tommie Day, 69, were pronounced dead at the scene, and officials say they were the only two people aboard the aircraft.
The crash happened at approximately 10:48 a.m. on Thursday, just after the couple's Beechcraft Bonanza departed from George R. Carr Memorial Airfield, according to The Bogalusa Daily News. The couple was identified as Seguin residents, as reported by KSAT, and the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the aircraft was a Beech H-35 model, a single-engine light plane. The FAA has been notified of the crash and is investigating, per KSAT.
Local emergency responders extinguished a fire that broke out upon impact in the wooded area before recovering the Days from the wreckage, the Bogalusa outlet's report notes. Officials have not released additional information about the specific circumstances that led up to the crash, KSAT reported. Bogalusa is located in southeast Louisiana, and the wreckage came down near the municipal airfield shortly after the plane left the ground.
Bodies Sent to Lafayette for Autopsies
Authorities arranged for the bodies of Bill and Tommie Day to be sent to Lafayette, Louisiana, for formal autopsies as part of the ongoing death investigation, according to the same outlet's report. That step is standard procedure in fatal aviation incidents as investigators work to establish an official cause and manner of death alongside the broader federal probe into what brought the plane down.
NTSB Investigator Set to Document Wreckage
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was scheduled to arrive at the crash site Friday to document the wreckage and oversee its removal to a secure facility for closer examination, the Bogalusa Daily News reported. The NTSB said its investigation will examine flight track data, air traffic control communications, aircraft maintenance records, weather conditions, pilot qualifications, witness reports, electronic devices, and any available surveillance video.
Federal investigators expect to release a preliminary factual report within 30 days of the crash, though a final determination of probable cause typically takes 12 to 24 months to complete, per the outlet's report. Because small aircraft like the Bonanza rarely carry sophisticated flight data recorders, investigators will lean heavily on wreckage analysis, maintenance logs and witness accounts to piece together what happened in the seconds after takeoff.
A Widely Used Aircraft With a Long History
George R. Carr Memorial Airfield, identified by the FAA code BXA, has a single paved runway measuring 5,002 feet long and 100 feet wide, according to data compiled by Jettly. The Beechcraft Bonanza that the Days were flying has been in continuous production since Beech Aircraft Corp. introduced it in 1947, making it the longest continuously produced general aviation aircraft in history, with more than 18,000 units built across its various models, per Wikipedia.
Federal aviation safety data cited by the National Transportation Safety Board shows that single-engine general aviation accidents occurring during takeoff or initial climb carry elevated fatality risks, largely because of low altitude and the minimal time pilots have to attempt an emergency forced landing. That dynamic is expected to be a central focus as investigators work to reconstruct the final moments of Thursday's flight out of Bogalusa.
