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Navy: 2 Marines from Maryland, Florida died in Ala. plane crash
The Associated Press
ASHVILLE, Ala. -- The Navy says Marines from Maryland and Florida were killed when their plane crashed into a mountain during a training flight.
Instructor pilot Maj. David Yaggy, 34, of Sparks, Md., and 2nd Lt. Alexander Prezioso, 23, of Lake Worth, Fla., were on a routine training flight when the crash occurred Friday afternoon near Ashville.
The two Marines were members of Training Squadron Six at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla.
Yaggy was described as a decorated combat pilot with 10 Air Medals and a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and Prezioso as a student in primary flight training at the base.
The crash occurred on the south rim of Chandler Mountain, about 60 miles northeast of Birmingham. The cause remains under investigation.
Posted : 2008-03-17 21:39
Sad....
The Lt. was a local here in Palm Beach county, Lake Worth. Wonder how this one happened??:(
Posted : 2008-03-18 08:12
Training! !
Sad Loss! I remember when I read of crashes into Mountains etc my original Instructer back in 1943 a Navy Lt with lots of hours prior to Navy service. He emphasized 2 important things that remained imprinted in my mind many years. #1. Always identify the highest obstacle in your flight plan. Insure the altimeter is adjusted for that days envirement. Maintain 500 ft above the highest obstacle in your flight plan. #2. Never panic , keep flying, utilize your emergency procedures. In those days Navigation was heavy on "Dead Reckoning" with the old plotting board under the instrument panel & morse code as the language. Required for reading Blinker signals from ships etc. The Sr Pilot in this accident was discribed as a very expierienced Pilot & perhaps there was other reasons why they were down at the level of that mountain?? RIP Marines. SF PM
Posted : 2008-03-18 16:20
10 air medals, UH-1N Huey helicopter.
Mar 18, 2008 4:00 AM (19 hrs ago) by Jason Flanagan, The Examiner
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Marine Maj. David Yaggy was known for giving “exceptionally generous” Christmas gifts before being deployed overseas.
“He did it, because it might be his last,” said his older brother Alex.
Although he had no scheduled deployments, this past Christmas turned out to be his last.
David Yaggy, 34, was training another Marine pilot Friday in a single-engine plane when it hit the side of a mountain 60 miles from Birmingham, Ala.
His student, 2nd Lt. Alexander Prezioso, also died.
The Navy is still investigating what caused the midday crash and would not release any information.
David Yaggy and his three siblings grew up in Sparks in Baltimore County and had dreamed of joining the Marines and becoming pilots — which David Yaggy did when he graduated from the University of Richmond in 1996.
Yaggy had served for 11 years and was a decorated combat veteran, having served two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2005. He earned 10 air medals for strikes and other combat awards for flying a UH-1N Huey helicopter.
Yaggy leaves behind a wife and an 18-month-old daughter in Pensacola, Fla.
He had been working on his master’s in business administration and planned on leaving the service soon to work in aviation.
“He was robbed of all the benefits of his hard work,” Alex Yaggy said.
Yaggy was one of the instructors based at the Naval Air Station-Whiting Field in Milton, Fla., and trained Naval aviators for combat.
“As an instructor, he was an experienced Naval aviator, having spent so much time in the forward theater and in combat,” said Jay Cope, spokesman for the Naval air station.
Prezioso, of Florida, was training for a long-range flight in a T-34 Turbo Mentor from the air station to Savannah, Ga., when the crash occurred.
It is the third fatal crash in that aircraft taking off from Whiting Field, Cope said.
A memorial service for Yaggy and Prezioso is planned for Thursday in Florida.
Yaggy was the second local military veteran to die this past Friday. Army Staff Sgt. Collin Bowen, of Nottingham in Baltimore County, succumbed to injuries sustained Jan. 2 from a roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan.
Alex Yaggy and his wife were living in New York in 2001 and witnessed the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
“When I saw the first tower go down, I knew David would be going off to fight,” Alex Yaggy said. “ ... It’s very hard, because he wasn’t killed in combat, so we can’t be angry at anyone.”
Posted : 2008-03-18 23:32
