A Frederick man and an unidentified woman died in a New Mexico plane crash last week.
Doug Hoverter died in a plane crash the night of Wednesday, Aug. 13, in northeast New Mexico, according to Chris Ramirez, the spokesperson for the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator. Hoverter’s place of business, aircraft incident investigation firm Aeroscope Inc., confirmed he died. Online flight trackers and the Federal Aviation Administration show that Hoverter owned the crashed plane, a single-engine Beech M35 registered with tail number N951T.
Hoverter and another woman who has not been publicly identified died in the crash, according to New Mexico State Police Officer Wilson Silver.
The plane’s tracking system last pinged directly at Sierra Grande, an extinct stratovolcano near Des Moines, New Mexico, according to online flight trackers and Silver. Sierra Grande’s peak is at an elevation of about 8,720 feet , according to the National Park Service.
The exact location of the crash was unclear.
The plane, Hoverter’s aircraft, was found around 4:15 p.m. the following afternoon by New Mexico State Police and responding authorities. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, according to NTSB spokesperson Peter C. Knudson.
Knudson confirmed the plane crashed in “mountainous terrain.”
At 7:39 p.m. that Wednesday, Hoverter flew out of the Erie Municipal Airport for Pueblo Memorial Airport, according to online flight tracking service FlightAware. At 10:10 p.m., Hoverter took off from Pueblo headed for Uvalde, Texas, before the plane crashed around 11 p.m. that night.
Hoverter was an aircraft failure investigator at Aeroscope, Inc. According to the company’s website, Hoverter specialized in “failure investigation and analysis of airframes, engines and aircraft systems.” He had worked at the company since 2008 and has been involved in more than 500 investigations.
He is licensed as an airline transport pilot, flight instructor and mechanic, according to the FAA.
Hoverter had experience flying World War I, World War II, antique and experimental aircraft, according to the company’s website.
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