Pilot, fiancee and her grandchildren killed in Jefferson County plane crash

Sun., Jan. 1, 2017

Associated Press

PORT ANGELES, Wash. – Authorities in Jefferson County said a 63-year-old Sequim pharmacist was the pilot aboard a small plane that crashed last week, killing all four people on board.

Michael Haas, Jefferson County prosecuting attorney and coroner, identified the victims as pilot Jon Bernhoft, his 61-year-old fiancee Carla Parke and her two grandchildren – a 9-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, both of Bellingham.

The aircraft left Boeing Field in Seattle for Port Angeles just after 6 p.m. Thursday and lost contact with air traffic control about 45 minutes later.

Searchers found the single-engine Cessna and four bodies in a heavily wooded ravine in Jefferson County on Friday morning.

The Peninsula Daily News reported that officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board worked Saturday to extract the wreckage from the ravine.

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Pilot, fiancee and her grandchildren killed in Jefferson County plane crash

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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