EPHRAIM, WI (WTAQ) – A tragic plane crash Sunday night in Door County leaves two people dead.
According to a release from the Door County Sheriff’s Department, a caller witnessed a small plane flying over Peninsula State Park near the Ephraim-Gibraltar Airport when the plane disappeared from view and the sound of a crash was heard.
“I thought maybe it was a campfire,” Ann Gamble of Fish Creek told FOX 11 that she smelled smoke around the park. “So I drove down the road here to the maintenance area and turned around because a couple of vehicles were coming from that way and then I just parked out here until they found it.”
“At 9:55 p.m., a citizen on a bike trail in Peninsula State Park located the wreckage west of Highland Road,” says Pat McCarty, Chief Deputy of the Door County Sheriff’s Department. “Two occupants of the plane were killed.”
McCarty identified the victims as 16-year-old Olivia Dahl of Sister Bay and 69-year-old Ralph Keller of Sister Bay and Lagrange Park, Illinois.
“Ms. Dahl was a flying enthusiast and was taking lessons in Green Bay to get her pilot’s license,” McCarty says. “Mr. Keller was a volunteer pilot who was transporting Ms. Dahl to and from her lesson in Green Bay.”
Officials at Gibraltar Secondary School, where Dahl was a student, expect to release more information on Tuesday.
“They just missed the airport,” Gamble said. “That’s really sad, they just missed the airport by a very little bit.”
The FAA arrived on the scene Monday morning and will start their investigation into what may have caused the crash. The NTSB will be arriving on Tuesday. The investigation is expected to take several weeks to complete.
Responding units included Ephraim Fire, Gibraltar Fire, Gibraltar PD, Sister Bay/Liberty Grove Fire, Baileys Harbor Fire, Sturgeon Bay Fire, The Door County Sheriff’s Office, and Door County EMS.
