Authorities on Monday identified the three people who died after two small planes collided and then crashed at Watsonville Municipal Airport last week.
The victims were identified as 75-year-old Carl Kruppa and 67-year-old Nannette Plett-Kruppa of Winton, California, and 32-year-old Stuart Camenson of Santa Cruz, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner. A dog was also killed in the crash.
There were two people and a dog aboard a twin-engine Cessna 340 and only the pilot aboard a single-engine Cessna 152 during the crash last Thursday, according to National Transportation Safety Board air safety investigator Fabian Salazar.
“We have what appears to be one aircraft operating in a traffic pattern and one aircraft coming into the airport to land,” Salazar said.
The Cessna 152 was registered to Monterey Bay Aviation Inc., according to FAA records. The aircraft was listed for rent by the hour on the website of United Flight Services, a company based at the airport that provides flight instruction and aircraft rentals and maintenance.
The Cessna 340 was registered to ALM Holding LLC., a company based in Winton, a town in central California.
The city-owned airport does not have a control tower to direct aircraft landing and taking off.
The airport accounts for about 40% of all general aviation activities in the Monterey Bay area, according to the City of Watsonville’s website.
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