Tuolumne Sheriff’s Office identifies two killed in Columbia airplane crash
The two people killed when a small plane crashed Wednesday evening near the Columbia Airport have been identified as Sonora residents Robert Clough, 73, and Robert Parriott, 71, according to the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office.
Clough was the pilot, and Parriott his only passenger in the single-engine Cessna 140A. Causes of death will be determined by autopsy, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release, but preliminary cause is major trauma.
The crash was reported just after 6 p.m. on the 21000 block of Springfield Road. That is about a quarter-mile from the county-owned airport, which serves small aircraft.
“We don’t know the circumstances of the crash or the plane’s destination,” the Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook on Wednesday night, and there was no update Thursday.
The crash area includes cattle ranches and is within half a mile of Columbia Elementary School and Columbia State Historic Park.
Upon impact, the plane flipped over in a field, spokesman Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration said by email Wednesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, the Sheriff’s Office said. It’s a process that typically takes at least a year.
Terry Williams, a public affairs official with the NTSB, said in a phone call to The Bee on Thursday afternoon that the NTSB now has personnel in Columbia to conduct the on-scene, fact-gathering phase of the investigation.
That includes thorough documentation of the crash scene. The plane has not been moved, he said, but at some point will be taken to a secure location for further examination.
The investigation involves three components: human, machine and environment. Those include a review of the pilot’s record and training, the aircraft’s condition and maintenance record and the weather conditions, Williams said.
Investigators also will be seeking any witnesses to the crash.
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 1:34 PM.
