Simpsonville Residents Killed in Plane Crash in Alaska

Two Upstate residents from Simpsonville were killed Friday in a plane crash in Alaska.

Authorities identified the victims as 74-year-old John Ellenberg and his 52-year-old fiancee, Laurie Buckner.

Ellenberg and Buckner were passengers on a twin-engine, B-55 Beech Baron when their plane crashed just before noon Friday. The plane was part of a large airplane tour group that took off from Fairbanks, Alaska, headed to Homer. More about the tour group can be found here. 

The NTSB is investigating.

The Upstate pair, who lived at 28 Debonair Way, were the only passengers in the plane. The pilot, 61-year-old Dale Hemman, of Steilacoom, Wash., also was killed in the crash, reported the Anchorage Daily News.

According to the report, Hemman (whose plane is pictured above) was to lead a group of 19 small planes approximately 330 nautical miles south from Fairbanks to Homer, said chief Alaska NTSB investigator Clint Johnson.

"They took off from Fairbanks a little ahead of the group," Johnson said. "The intent was to do a weather check through the pass."

Investigators are reviewing weather conditions at the time of the crash and trying to piece the wreckage of the plane back together.

"(The plane's wreckage) was highly fragmented," Johnson said. "That's indicative of a high-speed impact."

Hemman was the owner and director of operations at Let’s Fly Alaska, a flight-seeing company that organizes sight-seeing squadrons in which visitors can fly their own airplanes across remote parts of Alaska and Canada. Group participants are required to have a valid pilot's license, and the company recommends having 200 hours of flying experience.

Ellenberg, the owner of Deb Aviation in Greenville, was an accomplished pilot well known among the Upstate aviation community.

Just weeks before Friday's crash, Hemman — who boasted 45 years of military, commercial and aerial fire-fighting pilot experience — had posted a viral, first-hand video of a failed-engine, emergency landing he survived and walked away from last summer.