Clovis periodontist, Hanford dairy owner among 3 killed in Alaska plane crash

Two central San Joaquin Valley men on an Alaskan fishing trip were killed Tuesday when the floatplane they were on crashed shortly after takeoff in remote southwest Alaska, authorities said.

Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan A. Peters identified the two men as Dr. James P. Fletcher, 70, of Clovis, and Tony DeGroot, 80, of Hanford. James Specter, a 69-year-old Shavertown, Penn., man also was killed. Five other people were taken to a hospital in Anchorage, Alaska. Two more suffered minor injuries. Their identities have not been released.

Fletcher was a periodontist with a private practice in Fresno, and DeGroot owned and operated the DeGroot Dairy.

Peters said troopers in Dillingham, Alaska, were notified of the crash at 6:24 a.m. They found the crash near East Wind Lake just north of the Iliamna Airport in Iliamna, Alaska and reported the fatalities.

The National Transportation Safety Board has taken over the investigation.

NTSB spokesman Clint Johnson said one investigator was on the scene Tuesday afternoon and another was on the way. The investigators will look into what caused the crash, what the weather conditions were and exactly who was on the plane.

Johnson said the plane, a de Havilland DHC-3T floatplane, was the first departure of the day from the area. It is owned and operated by the Rainbow King Lodge.

A lodge employee declined to comment on the crash.

Authorities aren’t sure how many of the 10 people on board were visitors or if Fletcher and DeGroot were part of a larger party. The two men were on a fishing trip, Johnson said.

Two of the seven people injured suffered minor wounds and were able to walk away from the crash, Johnson said. Five are in serious condition.

The Alaska Dispatch News reported the plane took off around 6 a.m. in the dawn twilight. A webcam at the Ilianma airport airport showed rainy conditions with a gray overcast sky, ADN said. A Federal Aviation Administration official told ADN the pilot was operating under visual flight rules, meaning the pilot needed to be able to see for at least three statute miles.

The plane crashed at the end of Lake Ilianma into a forest of birch and spruce trees, an NTSB official told ADN.

News of the crash spread quickly in the community of 110 people, ADN reported. The home of Myrtle Anelon, which was closest to the crash site, became a gathering spot for relatives of those on board as well as community members.

At 6:15 a.m., a Rainbow King Lodge employee knocked on Anelon’s door, and her granddaughter Kirsty Coghill answered. “He explained that there was just a crash and he needs all the light that he can” get, she told Alaska Dispatch News.

At 10:30 a.m. an Alaska Air National Guard HC-130 airplane landed at the Ilianma Airport and medics on board stablized the injured for transport to Anchorage.

Fletcher’s family released a statement Tuesday night saying he was “a quiet man with an incredibly generous heart, (and) was full of faith in Christ Jesus.” The family is planning services at First Presbyterian Church of Fresno.

Fletcher’s periodontics practice website stated he was married to Debbie Fletcher for 42 years. They had three children, all of whom are now adults. The website also stated he was a member of the Fresno Madera Dental Society, California Dental Association, American Dental Association and the American Academy of Periodontology.

He was a deacon at First Presbyterian, the website said, and he enjoyed home projects, building cars and fishing.

Attempts to reach First Presbyterian representatives were not successful.

DeGroot’s family could not be reached for comment, but fellow agriculture industry members remembered the dairy owner.

Fellow dairy operator Jackie Giacomazzi of Hanford was saddened to hear of DeGroot’s death. The DeGroot Dairy is about two miles from the Giacomazzis.

“He was a pillar of our dairy community,” she said. “He was a very accomplished dairyman, and ran one of the most innovative dairies around.”

A 2012 article in the Progressive Dairyman said the DeGroot family was milking 4,500 cows. The Hanford dairyman immigrated from the Netherlands in 1956. He began his dairy operation in a rented facility and in 1966 purchased 100 acres, where he built a new barn.

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Clovis periodontist, Hanford dairy owner among 3 killed in Alaska plane crash."