The victims of the Farmington plane crash include two veteran pilots and a couple who left a 1-year-old son behind; report says wife was pregnant with a girl
The victims of Thursday’s fiery plane crash in Farmington included two veteran pilots from Connecticut and a couple who left a one-year-old son behind.
The couple, Courtney Haviland, 33, and her husband, William Shrauner, 31, are both doctors from Boston. Haviland is a Farmington native who graduated in 2006 from Farmington High School. In addition to a 1-year-old son, Fox 61 quoted a family friend as saying Haviland was pregnant with a girl.
Ben Shrauner, Will’s brother, posted a remembrance of the couple on Facebook.
“It doesn’t seem real that I am actually typing this … yesterday morning my little brother Will and his wife, Courtney, died in a plane crash. Their son Teddy was not traveling with them, and is safe,” Ben Shrauner wrote.
“Will was the best mix of all my siblings. He had Justin’s intelligence, Sarah’s loving heart, and hopefully something good from me. Courtney was a perfect match for him. Smart, beautiful, witty, charismatic, and always fun to be around. Two really special people that are gone way too soon.”
After graduating from Farmington High School, Haviland went to college at Brown University, Weill Cornell Medical College for medical school and completed her residency in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital. Shrauner was a cardiology fellow at Boston Medical Center.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of our cardiology fellows, Dr. Will Shrauner, and his wife, Dr. Courtney Haviland,” Boston Medical Center said in a written statement. “Will, a second year fellow at Boston Medical Center, was well known as an outstanding educator, physician, colleague and friend to many. Our thoughts and prayers are with Will and Courtney’s family and loved ones.”
Veteran pilots
The two pilots killed in the crash have been identified as William O’Leary, 55, from Bristol, and Mark Morrow, 57, from Danbury. The plane, a twin-engine, Cessna Citation 560XL was headed to the Dare County Regional Airport on the Outer Banks of North Carolina when it crashed on takeoff from Plainville’s Robertson Airport.
“The Farmington Police Department extends their deepest condolences to the friends and family of the four passengers who died in this tragic crash,” Lt. Timothy McKenzie said.
Morrow was a longtime pilot who graduated in the 1980s from the Florida Institute of Technology, which has advanced aviation and aeronautics programs, before spending two years working for Lufthansa Airlines in Hamburg, Germany, according to his LinkedIn resume.
Morrow also worked for almost 12 years as a manager at IBM and before that as head of a Danbury manufacturing company before becoming a pilot full time. He was an active airline transport pilot, flight instructor and held mechanic certifications with the FAA, federal records show.
O’Leary was the son of William O’Leary Sr., who operated Interstate Aviation at Robertson Airport in Plainville for about 40 years, according to Town Manager Robert Lee.
The victim “was a fixture there for many years, he learned to fly jets for Interstate and was one of the primary people they used to do that,” Lee said. “By all accounts he was dependable, reliable and a very good pilot.”
O’Leary is remembered as a friend and mentor to Nick Scata, president of Interstate Aviation.
“His loss has devastated all of us at Interstate Aviation,” Scata said.
The crash happened about 9:50 a.m., when the four had just taken off from the nearby airport in Plainville.
The 13-seat corporate jet hit the ground outside TRUMPF Inc. 111 Hyde Road, soon after takeoff and slammed into a corner of the building. The plane appeared to be having a mechanical failure, officials said, although what caused the crash is at the center of the ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB investigators are expected to be on the scene throughout the weekend.
In the TRUMPF building, two workers were injured. A company spokeswoman declined to elaborate on their injuries Friday but said they were still being treated.
Christine Dempsey may be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.
