A California flight instructor and her two young sons were killed Saturday when their plane crashed near a Fresno airport, leaving her husband critically injured.
Danna Eady, 41, of Auberry died alongside boys Pavel and Remus when the aircraft went down on a hilltop near Sierra Sky Park airport just before 2 p.m., authorities said. Her husband Craig, also aboard, survived with severe burns and extensive injuries.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office received the call around 1:50 p.m. About wreckage near the far north end of Blythe Avenue, close to the San Joaquin River in northwest Fresno, public information officer Tony Botti said. Firefighters, police and sheriff’s deputies arrived to find flames tearing across a nearby hillside.
“Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames and prevent them from spreading onto the properties of nearby homes,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Eady and Craig were rushed to a hospital in critical condition. The two sons were declared deceased at the scene.
Danna is also survived by her other children Lucien, 17, and Felicity, 18. A SupportNow page started by family friend Julie Lovell indicates Craig now faces a long recovery.
“[Craig] now faces a long and difficult road of surgeries, rehabilitation, medical care, and recovery,” the page reads. “His care is expected to continue for at least the next six months and likely well beyond that.”
All funds raised will go to Craig’s ongoing medical care, the family’s household needs and unexpected costs from the tragedy, Lovell’s page states.
Nick Wilcox, owner of Soar Paso flight school in Paso Robles, described Eady as a dear friend and fellow flight instructor who had flown with him numerous times and had even taken his daughter flying.
“She was a very special soul,” Wilcox told The Post.
Danna was deeply involved in the Fresno-area aviation community, working as a flight instructor at Reedley College and serving as president of the local Experimental Aircraft Association chapter. Her impact showed after the crash through numerous current and former students wishing her well.
“She was a very large presence in the Fresno flying community,” Wilcox said.
Wilcox remembered Danna as “bubbly, outgoing, a free spirit” who loved being barefoot, eating ice cream, traveling and having new experiences. Flying was her passion, he said, and though she had only become a pilot in recent years, she quickly accumulated thousands of flight hours and earned numerous ratings.
“Her dream was to fly,” Wilcox said. “She died doing what she absolutely loved.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are both investigating, with the NTSB taking the lead in determining what went wrong. A secured perimeter was established around the wreckage Saturday to keep people out and give crews room to work.
What caused the plane to go down remains unclear as investigators begin piecing together the crash.