The Texas father and his wife who died in a plane crash on Sunday were headed to Detroit to watch his teen daughter compete in a volleyball tournament.
Fifty-four-year-old pilot Greg Boaz’s son Peyton, 17, joined the couple for the journey, and escaped the fiery plane while his father and 48-year-old stepmother Julie perished.
The teen is currently in critical condition at Detroit Receiving Hospital, where he is being treated for third-degree burns. His biological mother and 14-year-old sister Krysta flew to Michigan on a commercial flight and are by his side.
Greg Boaz, 54 (right), and his 48-year-old wife Julie (left) died on Sunday when their private plane crashed in Detroit. The Texas couple and Boaz’s 17-year-old son were headed to his daughter’s volleyball tournament in Detroit
Boaz’s son Peyton, 17 (pictured), escaped the burning plane and is being treated for third-degree burns at Detroit Receiving Hospital
Boaz’s daughter Krysta was a member of Absolute Volleyball Academy’s 14 Rox team, which was set to compete at the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championship at Detroit’s Cobo Center this week.
Her team’s first game is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at 4pm, though it’s unclear if she will play.
The club issued a statement on Facebook on Tuesday, saying their ‘thoughts and prayers are with Krysta Boaz and the entire Boaz family during this difficult time’.
‘Members of the Boaz family were travelling to GJNC in Detroit when this horrific accident happened.
Peyton was filmed commando rolling out of the plane as flames engulfed the wreckage
Peyton managed to stumble to safety and authorities say he remains in a critical condition in hospital
‘We are saddened by this tragedy and loss of loved ones.
‘Please pray for Greg and Julie whom were called home and let’s pray for a full recovery for Peyton Boaz (Krysta’s brother) as he received the best care available,’ the statement reads.
Boaz leaves behind another son, 25-year-old Tyler, and two businesses in the greater Houston area – Lone Star Grill in Bacliff and Palapa’s Bar in Kemah.
Lone Star Grill was closed on Monday in mourning of Boaz’s death, but was set to reopen on Tuesday.
Palapa’s Bar remained open, which manager Walter Wilson said Boaz would have wanted.
Greg Boaz (center) leaves behind three children: 25-year-old Tyler (top), 14-year-old Krysta (right) and 17-year-old Peyton (left). The father and his three kids pictured three years ago
Krysta Boaz’s volleyball club issued this statement on Tuesday. Her first game in the tournament was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. It’s unclear if she will play
‘He would want his people, all his friends and all of his family to still be able to come to the place that they love and to come and have drinks and celebrate his life and Julie’s life,’ Wilson told Click 2 Houston. ‘He was good, he took care of his people, he took care of the people that took care of him and it’s really hard to know that we’re never going to get to talk to him again.’
The FAA and NTSB rushed to the scene of the crash to investigate what happened. A preliminary report will be released at the end of the week or early next week, but a final report likely won’t be finished for more than a year.
NTSB investigator Andrew Todd Fox held a press conference on Monday and released what they knew about the crash so far.
They said the three set out from Texas around 4pm and made a quick stop in Arkansas before heading on Detroit. As they were approaching Detroit airspace, Boaz was granted landing clearance at a local airport. But soon after, he called Air Traffic Control back and said his landing gear was not deploying for an unknown reason.
An Air Traffic operator offered to take a look at the plane if he did a fly by, and the controller confirmed that the landing gear did not deploy.
The last thing Boaz said before losing connection to the tower was that he was running low on fuel.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot had reported issues with the plane’s landing gear and said he was running low on fuel before the crash
Not long after, around 8pm, Boaz hit a tree, flipped and landed in a vacant lot where the plane burst into flames. He was allegedly trying to find a grassy field to make an emergency landing in.
Friend Bob Mutina told Fox 2 that Boaz recently bought the Cessna 210 plane but hadn’t flown regularly for decades (public records show the plane was bought in April). Mutina said he expressed concern about the plane to a mutual friend recently.
‘I said Randy I don’t think he’s flown. I said he used to fly a lot back in the 80’s and 90’s and he said you know, Bob, I felt really uncomfortable cuz he said I don’t think he’s flown in a long time. He said I don’t think Greg needs to be flying that airplane until he learns it,’ Mutina said.
The NTSB investigator said at his press conference that Boaz had at least 650 hours of flying experience. However, not all of those hours were clocked on his new Cennsa.
Boaz is the owner of two restaurants in the greater Houston area. He’s pictured on the left and right with his wife Julie
Footage shot by witnesses showed Boaz’s son desperately trying to free himself from the wreckage.
At first he could be seen struggling to squeeze through one of the windows as the plane door became engulfed in flames.
After several seconds, he was forced to go through the flames and commando roll out of the plane.
The teenager, who WXYZ earlier reported to be the pilot but later changed, stumbled to safety with burns clearly visible on his arms.
Witness Cordell Owens told WDIV that he could hear the people screaming for help when the plane burst into flames.
Owens said he used an ax to break open the plane door and bust the windows.
He said he didn’t have his knife so wasn’t able to cut the man and woman free from their safety belts and the windows were too small to pull them through.
The witness added that the boy was begging for help and he could see his arms and face starting to burn before he was able to roll out of the plane through the opening in the door.
‘It was terrible. It was all burning fire and everything, and they told me to leave because the plane might blow. But I couldn’t because I had to get that guy out of there. I feel bad because I couldn’t save the other two,’ Owens said.