Christopher Kucera and Zachary Hatcher, Virginia life partners killed after their single engine plane crashed shortly after take off at MacArthur Airport in Long Island. Investigators now explore how and why the plane crashed.
A Virginia coupe have been identified as the two individuals killed at MacArthur Airport on Long Island Monday after their plane crashed shortly after takeoff.
Christopher Kucera, 46, and Zachary Hatcher, 43, died after their single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza A36 went down shortly after taking off from the Ronkonkoma airport at around 6:15 p.m., Suffolk County police said.
Kucera, of Fredericksburg, VA, was piloting the plane and Hatcher, of King George, was his only passenger, officials said.
‘Chris died doing what he loved most and with the man he loved most’
Both were pronounced dead at the scene of the wreck WABC reported.
According to the NTSB, the plane had just taken off and got about 100 to 150 feet in the air before it nosedived and crashed near the end of the runway.
The NTSB says it doesn’t appear the plane was trying to land, it wasn’t out of fuel and there was no mayday call.
The couple described as ‘life partners’ had been visiting friends on Long Island and were heading back to Virginia when they were killed.
Kucera, an air and space engineer, was an experienced pilot who learned to fly before he was 17 years old, his brother, Mike Kucera, told the Fredericksburg Free Press.
‘Chris died doing what he loved most and with the man he loved most. We are grateful for that,’ he told the local outlet.
He believes the plane lost power and went down.
‘Considering the loss of power so soon after takeoff, Chris is a hero for avoiding casualties on the ground,’ the sibling said.
What caused plane to crash just after take off?
‘We’re devastated,’ Mike Kucera added. ‘Chris loved that plane, and he loved Zach.’
According to the brother, Chris had at least 1,500 hours flying the Beechcraft Bonanza A36 that crashed. He had the plane for nearly a decade.
Hatcher, meanwhile, was supposed to start a new job as CEO of the nonprofit Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region early next month, the Free Press reported.
‘Zach and Chris were fun people to be around,” the charity’s outgoing CEO Teri McNally said. ‘I was telling someone today that both made you feel like they were your best friends. Everybody is saying, ‘He was my best friend.’’
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the fatal crash.
