Floatplane crash victims shined in life
Winemaker, activist among the 10 killed
WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. — A civil rights activist, a business owner, a lawyer, an engineer and the founder of a winery and his family were on the floatplane that crashed in the waters of Washington state’s Puget Sound, killing 10.
The U.S. Coast Guard released the names of the victims early Tuesday. The body of one of the dead was recovered by a good Samaritan after Sunday afternoon’s crash. The other nine remain missing despite an extensive search.
The Northwest Seaplanes flight was on its way from Friday Harbor, a popular tourist destination in the San Juan Islands, to a Seattle suburb when it went down without sending out a distress call.
The dead include pilot Jason Winters, activist Sandy Williams, winemaker Ross Andrew Mickel, his pregnant wife Lauren Hilty and their child Remy Mickel. Also killed were passengers Joanne Mera, Patricia Hicks, Luke Ludwig, Rebecca Ludwig and Gabrielle Hanna. The Coast Guard did not provide hometowns.
Mickel was the founder of Ross Andrew Winery.
“We are deeply saddened and beyond devastated at the loss of our beloved Ross Mickel, Lauren Hilty, Remy and their unborn baby boy, Luca,” the Mickel and Hilty families said in a statement. “They were a bright and shining light in the lives of everyone who knew them.”
Williams, from Spokane, Washington, was a lecturer, filmmaker, founder of the Carl Maxey Center and editor of The Black Lens, an African American-focused newspaper.
“Sandy was a voice for the voiceless, a tireless advocate for marginalized people in Spokane, a journalist unafraid to speak truth to power, a builder of hope in her vision for the Carl Maxey Center, and a beloved friend to countless members of our community,” The Spokane County Human Rights Task Force said on Facebook.
Joanne Mera was a business owner from San Diego, The Seattle Times reported. Her niece, Sami Sullivan, said she was visiting family in Seattle when the crash occurred. She leaves behind three children and a husband of more than 30 years, Sullivan said.
The Ludwigs, a couple from Minnesota, also perished in the crash. Luke Ludwig was an engineering leader with Arizona-based Homelight Home Loans.
Seattle lawyer Gabby Hanna was returning from a friend’s wedding when the plane went down, The Seattle Times reported.
“She was a fierce, fierce young woman, in the best of ways,” her father, Dave von Beck, said in an interview Tuesday. “There are no words to describe the pain.”
The Coast Guard ended the search for survivors Monday afternoon after “saturating an area” of more than 2,100 square nautical miles.
The plane went down in Mutiny
Bay off Whidbey Island, roughly 30 miles northwest of downtown Seattle and about halfway between Friday Harbor and its destination in Renton, just south of Seattle.