CHEYENNE — Two doctors from the Midwest and a Wyoming student pilot were identified Monday as the three people killed when two small planes collided in midair Sunday over southwestern Wyoming.
The collision happened just before 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Debris was scattered over a half-mile about 5 miles northwest of the Rock Springs-Sweetwater County Airport, about 230 miles west of Cheyenne.
Sweetwater County Sheriff Rich Haskell said Monday that student pilot Dave Knezovich, 54, of Rock Springs was killed in the crash.
Knezovich had been flying a Cessna 172 for about an hour in the Rock Springs area when the collision occurred, Haskell said.
Haskell said the two victims in the second plane were Ralph Otto, 67, of Wilmette, Ill., and C. Michael Downey, 67, of Columbus, Ohio. Authorities have yet to determine which man was flying the Cirrus SR22.
Otto and Downey were members of the Great Lakes chapter of the Flying Physicians Association, said Alice Henderson, executive vice president of the Texas-based group. Otto was a cardiologist, and Downey was a retired family doctor, she said.
The men were on a personal trip unrelated to the physicians group, Henderson said. They had been visiting Otto’s son in Montana and were on their way to spend time at a condominium in Vail, she said.
Gar Kenny of Carbondale, Ill., president of the Flying Physicians Great Lakes chapter and a friend of Otto and Downey, said the Cirrus plane belonged to Otto. He said both men were members of the group for at least 20 years. The group was in shock over the crash, he said.
The doctors departed from Polson, Mont., Sunday morning and were approaching the Rock Springs airport to land when the collision occurred, authorities said. Their plane had been in normal radio contact with regional air-traffic controllers just before the crash.
Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board visited the crash site Monday morning. The investigation is expected to last several months.
