Four members of an Everett family flying to Palm Springs, Calif., for Thanksgiving were killed Tuesday when their single-engine plane crashed near Scappoose, Ore.
Philip Brewer and his wife, Sondra, were taking her daughters Elisse Vandeventer, 11, and Marisa Vandeventer, 9, to visit his family, the girls’ stepmother, Shellee Vandeventer, said Tuesday night.
“This is just devastating to everybody. They’re beautiful, beautiful children,” said the girls’ grandmother, Dorothy Vandeventer.
Phil Brewer, who worked for Boeing, was flying the plane, which crashed shortly before 7 a.m. about three miles north of the Scappoose Airport.
His Beech Bonanza aircraft, which took off from Arlington Airport, was flying low over the area and “sounded like it was in trouble, with its engine sputtering” before the crash, residents who heard the plane reported to Jay Tappan, fire marshal with Columbia River Fire and Rescue.
Brewer made a mayday call to the tower at Portland International Airport in Oregon about 6:55 a.m., Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said.
“There were two calls of ‘mayday, mayday,’ and then we lost them,” he said.
The wreckage was spotted in Scappoose Bay by a Portland news helicopter, Tappan said. The airplane was on a marshy island in the slough, and rescuers had a difficult time reaching the downed aircraft.
Rescuers borrowed a neighbor’s canoe and used a raft to reach the plane, Tappan said. Two bodies were found in the aircraft and two others were outside the fuselage. The family died at the scene.
The wreckage was spread out over more than a mile, Tappan said, adding that the weather was rainy and visibility poor.
The crash is under investigation by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office is expected to release more information about the crash this morning.
Investigators “are looking at the wreckage very carefully,” NTSB spokesman Keith McGuire said.
The agency routinely reviews the maintenance history of downed aircraft, the pilot’s experience, weather conditions and other factors that may have contributed to the crash. The probe could take up to a year, he said.
Phil and Sondra Brewer’s neighbors said he loved to fly. His plane was built in 1965, according to the FAA, and Brewer rented a hangar at Arlington Airport.
“His plane was his pride and joy,” said Beth Bingham, the Brewers’ next-door neighbor. “Flying was his passion. They went up just about every weekend.”
The couple, who were married in December 2001, were friendly and enjoyed spending time with Sondra Brewer’s daughters, Bingham said.
“I keep looking over there and seeing the house dark, and I can’t believe it,” she said. “I can’t believe they’re not coming back.”
The crash devastated the girls’ father, John Vandeventer; the girls’ stepsister Kindra, 11; and stepbrother Jakob, 4, and other family members, Shellee Vandeventer said.
Elisse loved art and Marisa wanted to be a veterinarian, she said. Both “were just full of life.”
Herald reporter Scott North contributed to this article.
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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