‘Profound sadness and grief’
Friends and community mourn King Township family of five killed in plane crash in Nashville
The King City man who died in a plane crash in Nashville, Tenn., Monday evening alongside his wife and three kids was generous, softspoken and respectful towards everyone he met, the family’s longtime rabbi told the Star in an interview Thursday.
“He was a person that would literally give his shirt off his back for someone else,” said Rabbi Chaim Hildeshaim of the Chabad Russian Centre of Thornhill Woods.
Victor Dotsenko, 43, his wife, Rimma, 39, and their three children, David, 12, Adam, 10, and Emma, 7, perished in the fiery crash near downtown Nashville alongside Interstate 40, Nashville police said in a post to X Wednesday night.
The plane is believed to have departed the Brampton-Caledon Airport on Monday afternoon and made two stops before crashing that evening. The cause is unknown.
“I’m going to be landing — I don’t know where!” the pilot told air traffic controllers who frantically tried to help him land safely just before the crash.
Rimma’s father Sergey Rudetsky confirmed his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren all died in the crash, but asked for privacy as he deals with his shock and grief.
Hildeshaim first met Victor and Rimma before they got married, and he and his wife became fast friends with the Dotsenkos, whom Hildeshaim said were cherished and devoted members of the Chabad Russian Centre community.
Hildeshaim officiated Rimma and Victor’s wedding and the naming ceremonies for their three kids. The Dotsenkos would spend Shabbat and holidays in the Hildeshaims’ home.
“Victor was the nicest guy” and “very proud of his heritage,” Hildeshaim said.
When the synagogue was under construction, Victor, who at the time was a window installer, installed all of the windows for free.
Hildesheim described Rimma as sweet, nice and giving. The couple “would do anything for one another,” he said, adding that he hopes people will do good deeds in the family’s memory.
Rimma was a decor consultant for Regal Crest Homes, while Victor was owner and CEO of Pearl Homes and Aeroseal Tech, according to LinkedIn profiles.
The Vaughan private school the Dotsenko children attended paid tribute to David, Adam and Emma in a statement posted to Instagram.
“These beautiful children lit up our hallways every day,” read the post by UMCA Rich Tree Academy. “They all had such a positive energy and attitude toward their friends and teachers.”
“Words cannot express the profound sadness and grief we are experiencing as we mourn the loss of the Dotsenko family,” the statement added.
In a press release Thursday, King Township Mayor Steve Pellegrini called the tragedy “a heartbreaking and devastating loss for our tightknit community.”
“While we await further details from the ongoing investigation, our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of the victims during this incredibly difficult time. We also extend our gratitude to the first responders and officials involved in the response and investigation.”
The plane was based at Brampton-Caledon Airport, said Allan
Paige, general manager of the Brampton Flying Club, which owns and operates the airport. Records of flight departures from the airport do not exist because it is uncontrolled.
The plane was scheduled to arrive at John C. Tune Airport, just west of Nashville’s downtown, at 7:43 p.m., which is around the same time it crashed, according to FlightAware’s tracking data.
Minutes before, the pilot radioed air traffic controllers and reported that his engine had shut down. He said he had overflown the airport at 2,500 feet and had circled around in an attempt to land, according to a radio transmission recording.
Officials cleared runway two at the airport, and urged the pilot to glide the plane down. But the plane had already descended to 1,600 feet by then.
That was the last they heard from the plane, which dropped off radar as it lost altitude.
First responders discovered the plane had burst into flames, just off the highway and behind a Costco on the city’s west side, almost five kilometres south of the airport.
The flight originated in Ontario and made stops along the way that were likely to gas up, including in Erie, Pa., and Mount Sterling, Ky., said Aaron McCarter, spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board.
Before the pilot radioed in the emergency, the plane had been on a normal flight track with no mechanical irregularities reported while it flew in from the Kentucky airport, McCarter said.
The plane referred to in the radio recordings was a Piper PA-32R, a six-passenger single-engine aircraft made in 1978 and based in Ontario, according to Canada’s civil aircraft registry. It was first seen in the Milton area Monday afternoon, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight activity.
There were no injuries to drivers on the interstate, Nashville Fire Department spokesperson Kendra Loney said. Authorities said no vehicles or buildings on the ground were damaged.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. McCarter said they packed up the wreckage for transport to a facility in Springfield, Tenn., where the plane will be reassembled.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says it has assigned a representative to the U.S.-led investigation.