No employees were injured or killed when a plane crashed Sunday night in the lot of a Medford, Ore., dealership.
The plane’s two occupants — pilot Donald Sefton, 69, and passenger Valerie Serpa, 67, died in the crash, Medford Police told local news outlets. Both were residents of Fallon, Nev.
Employees at the dealership, Airport Chevrolet-Buick-GMC, were shaken by the incident, General Manager Steve Miller told Automotive News during a Thursday phone call.
“It happened really fast and it’s a major tragedy … our condolences are extended to the pilot and the passenger’s friends and family, and they’re in all our thoughts and prayers,” Miller said. “I know it’s gonna be tough going through a loss like that, but we just want to support them any way we can.”
Airport Chevrolet-Buick-GMC sustained damage to its service department, which is closed Sundays. Its sales department was open at the time but was not affected.
The store’s sales and parts departments are open this week, but the service department needs work before it can reopen, Miller said. He doesn’t have an estimate on when repairs will be completed.
“It seems to be a pretty extensive process due to contaminants, smoke damage, damage to the building,” Miller said.
A few dealership-owned vehicles were lost in the crash, Miller said. So were several customers’ personal vehicles. Miller estimated 25 vehicles were affected, but he added that he needs to confirm that with insurance auditors. Not all vehicles affected were total losses.
Remnants of the plane were removed from the dealership lot on Wednesday.
Medford news station KDRV NewsWatch 12 reported the aircraft involved was a Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain twin-propeller plane registered to Sefton.
The plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport, Medford Fire Department Chief Eric Thompson told the Associated Press.
Videos provided to local news outlets show the aircraft descending at a steep angle, then crashing into the dealership’s lot. It burst into flames almost immediately.
The plane crashed under “unknown circumstances,” according to a preliminary incident report filed by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Automotive News has reached out to the National Transportation Safety Board for an update on its investigation of the crash.