Four people who died in a fiery private jet crash in Connecticut were identified Friday as a married Boston couple who were both doctors and two local pilots.
Police in Farmington said Courtney Haviland, 33, her husband, William Shrauner, 32, were passengers on the jet that crashed into a manufacturing company building Thursday morning shortly after takeoff from Robertson Airport in Plainville.
The pilots were William O’Leary, 55, of Bristol, and Mark Morrow, 57, of Danbury, Farmington police Lt. Tim McKenzie said.
‘The Farmington Police Department extends their deepest condolences to the friends and family of the four passengers who died in this tragic crash,’ McKenzie said in a statement.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were at the scene of the fiery crash Friday. The cause remains under investigation.
Married Boston doctors Courtney Haviland, 33, and William Shrauner, 32, died in a private jet crash in Connecticut on Thursday. Their baby son was not with them at the time
The wreckage of a business jet plane with four people on board, including two married doctors from Boston, is seen resting in Connecticut on Thursday
The Cessna plane crashed into a building at Trumpf Inc, a manufacturing company
The Cessna Citation 560X took off just before 10 a.m. on a flight headed to Dare County Regional Airport in Manteo, North Carolina, the Federal Aviation Administration said. McKenzie said there appeared to be some type of mechanical failure during takeoff.
The jet contacted the ground a short distance from the runway and crashed into a building at Trumpf Inc. The impact set off chemical fires inside the building. Two employees suffered minor injuries, officials said.
DailyMail.com can now reveal that Dr Haviland worked as a pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital after earning her medical degree from Weill Cornel Medical College of Cornell University.
Her husband, Dr Shrauner, was a second-year cardiology fellow at Boston Medical College.
A spokesperson for Boston Medical College sent a statement to DailyMail.com, confirmed the deaths of the couple.
‘We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of our cardiology fellows, Dr. Will Shrauner, and his wife, Dr. Courtney Haviland,’ the statement read. ‘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.’
Dr Haviland (left) worked as a pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr Shrauner (right), was a second-year cardiology fellow at Boston Medical College
Haviland is pictured with her baby son, Teddy, during happier times
After also earning his medical degree from Cornell in 2016, he did his three-year residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, followed by a cardiovascular disease research fellowship, which he completed last year.
The couple celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary in June. They had recently welcomed their first child, a son named Teddy.
One of Shrauner’s siblings said in a Facebook post that his nephew was not on the doomed flight with his parents and was safe.
Ben Shrauner wrote that his brother combined in himself the finest qualities of all of his siblings.
‘Courtney was a perfect match for him,’ he added. ‘[She was] smart, beautiful, witty, charismatic, and always fun to be around. Two really special people that are gone way too soon.’
The Thursday morning plane crash in Farmington, Connecticut sent flames into the sky
Two pilots and two passengers were confirmed dead by the afternoon, according to police
The plane reportedly crashed into the ground before sliding onto the factory building ahead
Gov. Lamont said ‘insularly fires’ broke out inside the Trumpf facility, where no one was hurt
The Cessna Citation 560X averages $2.5 million and can carry up to 10 passengers
Witnesses say the plane struggled to take off from the airport earlier in the day, according to reporter Caitlin Francis of WFSB. It hit the ground before eventually crashing into the factory building.
Photos from the scene show smoke billowing up as a mangled plane appears to rest next to the charred side of the building.
Cessna Citation 560Xs sell for as much as $2.5million, according to LibertyJet.com. The popular aircraft sits up to 10 passengers.
The plane crashed in the small town of Farmington about a mile down the road from an airport
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont thanked first responders at the scene and added that the plane probably had mechanical issues and hit a power line after taking off from the nearby airport.
‘It’s a chemical facility inside so there’s a lot of other insularly fires going on. Our amazing first responders were here almost immediately, but there was not much to save in terms of the folks on the plane,’ Lamont told WTNH.
‘I’m feeling the tragedy. I’m feeling it’s a state that’s had a lot of loss recently.’
A website for Trumpf describes the Farmington campus as a ‘state-of-the-art training facility, where more than 25 full-time instructors teach hands-on classes for programming, maintenance, and equipment operation in a 48,000 sq ft fabrication shop.’
‘The production of solid-state laser sources and flatbed laser-cutting machines is also carried out in the Farmington facility, to better serve the needs of customers in North America.’
A spokeswoman for the company directed all questions to the Farmington Fire Department.
A witness at a nearby company, Image First, told WTIC-TV that they heard a loud explosion and ran out to see the smoke.
Farmington is located in Hartford County, about 10 miles southwest of the state capital of Hartford. The 25,000-person town is about two hours from Boston and three hours from New York City.
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