Video of Devastating vintage Plane Crash in Wisconsin.
A vintage plane crashed into Fly-By Acres LLC, a family farm in Sheboygan Falls.
According to the Experimental Aircraft Association, Tibbitts’ plane, a de Havilland DH112 Venom, was set to take part in the vintage jet and Royal Air Force centennial activities at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. Sheboygan was also the site of vintage military planes all weekend for a formation clinic at the Aviation Heritage Center of Wisconsin.
The pilot, 50-year-old Martin J. Tibbitts, from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, died on impact.
Two farm workers were injured in the crash, a male, and a female. The female has since been released from the hospital but the male remains in critical condition, according to Fly-By’s public relations manager Rachel Kroeplien.
During the crash, two barns were destroyed that housed baby calves. Kroeplien said that between the two barns, there were about 80 cows. The total number lost is still unclear as more calves are dying or having to be put down due to smoke and fuel inhalation after the crash.
“There are some that were really sick and we’re monitoring them. We’re doing the best we can, but smoke inhalation in people has the same effect on animals,” Kroeplien said.
The farm had around 550 cows. Kroeplien explained that at the time, the two workers were in the barns feeding the calves.
The plane swooped down and left an imprint on the adjacent cornfield, hit one of the barns, swerved and hit the second barn and came to rest next to the farm’s milking barn and another structure used to house farm tools and machines.
Kroeplien says the family is now just trying to clean up as much as possible and determine what their next steps are going to be.
“There’s a lot of fuel on the ground, so we’re trying to make sure that we can actually move things without causing any more damage,” she said.
As of right now, the family is unsure what the monetary damages come to.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the possible cause of the crash.
