Buddy and Tracy Faucheaux, from right, the mother and father of Tamika Savoy, one of the victims of Monday’s small plane crash in a residential area of the valley near Silverado Ranch Boulevard and Bermuda Road, thank Dr. John Fildes of UMC after a press conference Tuesday at the UMC Trauma Center.
Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010 | 7:38 p.m.
Plane crash
A woman injured in a plane crash in Henderson on Monday said before the aircraft took off that she was confident in the pilot’s abilities and trusted him like family, her mother said.
Tracy Faucheaux, whose daughter Tamika Savoy was one of four people aboard the plane, said she was nervous about her daughter flying in the small, private plane.
But Savoy reassured her that she had faith in the pilot, Douglas Touchet, 45, of Erath, La.
“She was like, ‘Mama, I trust him more than I trust daddy.’ That’s what relieved me, because that’s how careful he was,” Faucheaux said at a news conference on Tuesday. “Something just went terribly wrong.”
Touchet died of injuries suffered in the crash.
Savoy and her husband, Randall, of Catahoula, La., and Touchet’s wife, Susan, were at University Medical Center in stable condition, said Dr. John Fildes, medical director of trauma.
The plane, a Piper Lance, crashed in a residential neighborhood off Bermuda Road and Silverado Ranch Boulevard shortly after taking off from Henderson Executive Airport.
“It was taking off routinely and all of the sudden lost power,” Metro Police Lt. Joe Ojeda said. “It appears from the trajectory that it attempted to land on the street.”
Faucheaux, speaking at the hospital, said her daughter was taking the pilot’s death hard.
“It’s just a very sad loss,” Faucheaux said. “You know, that was her friend. I don’t know much about flying, but any one of the friends would have flew with him. He was that careful.”
She said her son-in-law, Randall Savoy, spoke to her and her husband, Buddy, on the phone from the runway minutes before the group took off saying that everything was OK.
The injured passengers suffered burns, internal injuries and fractures, specifically broken ribs, and are being treated in the hospital’s burn unit, Fildes said.
“They were very badly injured,” he said. “I’m very hopeful they will make a full recovery.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. A preliminary report is expected later this week. The full investigation is expected to take six months to a year to complete.
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