Two people killed in plane crash in remote area of Sequoia National Park identified

UPDATE: The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office identifed the two people killed in last week’s plane crash: Brian Christopher Nepinsky, 35, and Garry William Zinger, 82. Both lived in Visalia.

Two people died in a plane crash that occurred in a remote wilderness location of Sequoia National Park, according to the National Park Service.

The fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft had been flying near the vicinity of the SQF Complex Fire that’s burning roughly 90 miles southeast of Visalia.

The plane departed at 11 a.m. Friday from the Visalia Airport and was scheduled to land at 1 p.m. at Needles Airport in San Bernardino County, the National Park Service said.

Radar tapes, however, showed that the plane’s last location was near the Upper Horse Creek drainage in Mineral King Wilderness, which is in the proximity of the 55,000-acre SQF Fire.

By 8 a.m. Saturday, the parks’ helitack (rescue/recovery) team located the aircraft crash in the area of Eagle Lake.

It was not immediately known what caused the plane to crash, though smoke from the SQF Fire might have hindered the pilot’s visibility.

Identities of the two people who died were not immediately released.

The plane crash caused a fire approximately a 1/2 acre in size, which ended up being contained by park personnel, the National Park Service said.

The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office was working with the United States Forest Service in the investigation.

As of Sunday morning, the SQF Complex Fire had burned 55,961 acres with only 7% containment.

Last month, a helicopter pilot died while fighting a wildfire near Coalinga.

This story was originally published September 5, 2020 at 2:47 PM.