Three residents of the Houston area died Tuesday morning when the Beechcraft Baron twin-engine aircraft they were aboard plunged into a pasture near Gloria Switch Road and LA Highway 93 in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana.
The Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office confirmed the victims as Bruce Verduyn, 58, of The Woodlands, Texas; Lydia Laws, 46, of Spring, Texas; and Justin Ramsey, 42, also of The Woodlands. According to authorities, the crash occurred just after 11 a.m. local time. Deputies were alerted to the incident and arrived to find the plane destroyed in the field. All three occupants were pronounced dead at the scene.
Flight tracking records from FlightAware showed the plane, bearing tail number N16PV, departed Hooks Memorial Airport near Houston at 9:53 a.m. With radar signals ceasing near the crash site around 11:01 a.m., the timeline suggests the aircraft was airborne for just over an hour before its final descent.
Witnesses told investigators they saw the plane circling before it rapidly lost altitude and went down. Sgt. Chris Cormier of the Sheriff’s Office described the sequence as the aircraft “casting about” midair before the fatal drop.
Officials say the plane is registered to Align Aviation LLC in The Woodlands, Texas. The intended destination was reportedly a private airstrip near Cankton, Louisiana—just miles from where the crash ultimately happened.
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have launched formal investigations into the cause of the crash. Authorities have not yet released details about mechanical issues, weather factors, or pilot condition, pending their inquiry.
In the wake of the tragedy, neighbors, family, and local communities in both Louisiana and Texas are left reeling. There’s sorrow over lives cut short and questions lingering about what went wrong in those final, tragic moments.
The post Three Texans Killed When Private Twin-Engine Plane Crashes into Louisiana Field appeared first on Tripplenews.
