A 67-year-old Wilmington woman died Friday afternoon after a small plane struck her as she tried to move her camera tripod out of its path at Catalano Airfield. Pamela M. Haselton had been photographing the aircraft on the runway when it came toward her at about 3:47 p.m., and police say its operator never saw her or her equipment.
The aircraft, a 1943 Aeronca L3 single-engine, two-seat plane, had landed and was taxiing toward the hangar when it struck Haselton, according to news10.com. Investigators said Haselton attempted to move the tripod out of the aircraft’s path as it approached, but the operator didn’t see the camera or the individual. Life-saving measures were attempted at the scene before she was pronounced dead, per the same report.
Investigation Involves State and Federal Agencies
New York State Police are working in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board to determine what happened at the small airfield, the station's report notes. As of now, no findings have been released about the cause of the collision, and officials have not identified the pilot or released the aircraft's registration information.
WCAX identified Haselton as the woman killed and said the accident occurred around 3:45 Friday afternoon in Wilmington, in WCAX's account of the incident. The outlet reported that the plane struck a person on the runway while taxiing toward the hangar, consistent with details provided by police.
Not an Isolated Type of Accident
A pedestrian collision involving an airplane occurred at a privately owned airport in South Charleston, West Virginia, in October 2024, according to generalaviationnews.com. In that case, the person was walking along the runway with his back toward the approaching airplane, and the airplane's left wingtip struck him; the airport involved had a single asphalt runway 1,900 feet long by 24 feet wide with no taxiway, the outlet reported. An NTSB report on that separate accident identified the pedestrian's inadequate visual lookout while walking next to an active runway as the probable cause of that collision — a finding specific to the West Virginia case and not an indication of what investigators will determine about the Catalano Airfield incident.
No further details have been released about whether the investigation into Haselton's death will lead to any findings, charges, or safety recommendations. Authorities have not said what prompted Haselton to be near the runway with her camera, beyond the fact that she was photographing the plane on the tarmac.
