The widow of a Louisiana sports reporter killed in a small airplane that crashed over the weekend, killing her and four others on board, says he missed her last phone call and text message to say that she loved him.
Steven Ensminger Jr., who was hospitalized after learning of the death of his wife Carley McCord, 30, said he forgot his cell phone when he went to work the day of the deadly crash.
Missing her final messages had only piled on to his anguish, he said.
Steven Ensminger Jr., who was hospitalized after learning of the death of his wife Carley McCord, 30, said he forgot his cell phone when he went to work the day of the deadly crash
Carley McCord, 30, who died in a plane crash that claimed five lives in Louisiana, in her last phone call and text to her husband told him she loved him, he says
The twin-engine aircraft bound for Atlanta came down near a post office and Walmart, hitting a car, flipping it over and then slamming into a tree around 9.22am Saturday
‘I was in and out of a nightmare, not being able to tell what was real and what wasn’t,’ he told Sports Illustrated.
‘I can remember laying in the hospital bed repeating myself saying it wasn’t real and then one of the hardest things I’m dealing with is that I missed her text and I missed her call.’
Investigators, meanwhile, released early findings from the crash on Sunday that suggested the small aircraft had only climbed 900 feet after taking off Saturday from an airport in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The twin-engine aircraft bound for Atlanta came down near a post office and Walmart, hitting a car, flipping it over and then slamming into a tree around 9.22am.
No distress call was ever made, authorities said.
McCord, who was on her way to the Rose Bowl, where Louisiana State University was playing the University of Oklahoma, was among the dead along with pilot Ian Biggs, 51, Robert Crisp II, 59, Gretchen Vincent, 51, and her son Michael ‘Walker’ Vincent, 15.
Stephen Wade Berzas, 37, who was also on board, survived and was hospitalized. His condition was critical.
The plane had taken off from runway 22L, began its climb and then started a left, descending turn, said Bruce Landsberg, vice-chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, reports the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.
Air Traffic Control had issued a low-altitude warning when the plane reached 700 feet.
Two witnesses told NTSB investigators the plane was in a steep turn, it rolled at about wing’s level before it hit the trees and power lines near an apartment complex on Verot School Road, the Daily Advertiser reports.
The plane then continued, coming down in a post office parking lot and coming to rest in a field.
No flight data recorder was on the eight-seat Piper Cheyenne, which investigators said was not unusual for a small aircraft.
It will likely take more than a year to determine the cause of the crash, said investigators.
McCord had been on her way to the Rose Bowl, where Louisiana State University was playing the University of Oklahoma.
Her father-in-law, also Steven, is the offensive coordinator for the school’s football team. He was pictured wiping away tears before the game on Saturday.
McCord had taken the plane on her way to the Rose Bowl, where Louisiana State University was playing the University of Oklahoma. Her father-in-law, Steven Ensminger (right), who has teh same name as her husband, is the offensive coordinator for the school’s football team
The elder Ensminger was seen wiping away tears before the start of Saturday’s game
Her widow, Steven Jr., had to be rushed to the hospital after he learned of his wife’s death from his aunt.
‘It is by far the most pain, angst and terror and just darkest time of my life,’ he told Sports Illustrated. ‘And I honestly don’t know how long it will last because I still don’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it’.
Carley McCord’s widow, Steven Ensminger Jr. (right), had to be rushed to the hospital after he learned of his wife’s death from his aunt
‘It is by far the most pain, angst and terror and just darkest time of my life,’ Carley McCord’s widow, Steven Ensminger Jr., said about the loss of his wife