'A devastating loss': Pilot who died in Lantana crash left new wife, child on the way
DELRAY BEACH — John and Lindi Holland married in a small ceremony at the Delray Beach courthouse last month. The couple planned to have a large wedding ceremony after the expected birth of their first child — a baby girl — in April.
But on Sunday night, Lindi received a visit from Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies with news she never wanted to hear. She learned that John was killed when the single-engine airplane he was piloting with a student passenger on board crashed in a field at Palm Beach County Park Airport near Lantana.
Lindi described her husband’s death just weeks after their wedding and before their daughter’s birth as heartbreaking.
“It has just been a huge and devastating loss for everybody,” she said of John, who worked as a flight-safety instructor in addition to flying for private charter companies.
“Every time you saw him, he had a smile on his face,” Lindi said. “All of his students loved him. He was so intelligent and just made you feel like family when you met him. It’s just a huge loss, not only for me, but for everybody.”
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Pilot, John Holland, had logged more than 700 hours flying single-engine planes
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday identified Holland, 43, and passenger Michael Marshall Jr., 34 , of Boca Raton as the two people killed when the Diamond DA40 crashed shortly before 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, with the probe being led by the NTSB. Investigators from the FAA arrived Monday to assess the remnants of the plane. The agency’s initial report, released Monday, said that “unknown circumstances” caused the crash.
Lindi Holland described her husband as an experienced pilot who had more than 700 hours flying single-engine planes. John worked for Palm Beach County-based Aamro Aviation and had traveled to Kentucky to pick up a new plane recently purchased by the company, she said.
Lindi said she had been in regular communication with John leading up to the final leg of his trip. The next thing she knew a deputy was at her home informing her about the crash. After learning the news, Lindi thought about the couple's yet-to-be born daughter.
"She's now going to grow up without a father," she said.
Pilot served two Army tours in Afghanistan, where he flew helicopters
John Holland was born in Virginia and raised in West Palm Beach.
He served for five years in the U.S. Army where he flew helicopters and did two tours in Afghanistan. He worked in commercial real estate upon retiring from the Army, Lindi said, but later decided to pursue his conmercial pilot’s license.
He was a flight safety instructor at Everglades University in Boca Raton and flew airplanes for a private charter company based in that city. Lindi said John’s goal was to become a commercial pilot.
“He was following his passion to eventually become an airline pilot and take care of his family,” Lindi said.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Lantana plane crash, near West Palm Beach, victim ID as John Holland
