Massachusetts State Police releases details, names of three victims in fatal plane crash

A student pilot, flight instructor, and flight school owner were killed in a plane crash in Massachusetts on Sunday.

According to Dave Procopio of Massachusetts State Police, the victims of yesterday’s plane crash on the Greenfield-Leyden line are William Hampton, 68, of Indian Orchard, Mass.; Chad Davidson, 29, of Woodstock, Conn.; and Fredrika Ballard, 53, of Southwick, Mass.

Ballard was the owner of the Fly Lugu Flight School. Hampton was a flight instructor or Fly Lugu. Davidson was a student pilot.

The plane, a Beechcraft 55 Baron Twin-Piston (Tail Number N7345R) owned by the Fly Lugu school, was located at approximately 12:33 PM yesterday in a small clearing in the woods within the Leyden Wildlife Management Area. The three occupants, all of whom were within the crashed plane, were determined to be deceased by Greenfield Firefighters and American Medical Response paramedics.

State Police Detectives assigned to the Northwest District Attorney’s Office determined that the plane had departed from Barnes Airport in Westfield at approximately 11:06 AM Sunday. Troopers confirmed that the three victims were the plane’s only occupants.

Troopers from the State Police Crime Scene Services Section processed and documented the crash site.

The victims were removed from the wreckage by firefighters and transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Authorities began searching for the crash site at approximately 11:30 a.m. after Greenfield Police/Fire Dispatch received 911 calls from dog walkers in Leyden and Greenfield reporting a plane that appeared close to crashing.

Federal Aviation Administration Aviation Safety Inspectors also responded to the crash site and a National Transportation Safety Board investigator is expected to arrive today.

A Trooper from the Shelburne Falls Barracks remained on scene at the crash site overnight to ensure scene security.

Ballard was being remembered as a warm, kind, smart, thoughtful, and generous person with a passion for aviation.

Hampton was known as a great friend and pilot.

The facts and circumstances of the crash remain under investigation by Massachusetts State Police, Greenfield Police, the Northwest District Attorney’s Office, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.