Seven hunting buddies were on American Airlines flight 5342 traveling from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington D.C. when it collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River on Wednesday. Sixty-seven people died in the collision, including all plane passengers and crew from both aircraft.
The seven hunters who were aboard flight 5342 were returning from a waterfowl hunt with Fowl Plains outfitters, which is based in Great Bend, Kansas. The men lived in the D.C. area and had been hunting in a group of 10 buddies. Three of the crew had chosen to drive the 1,300-plus miles home with their duck dogs and shotguns, according to the Wichita Eagle.
“We’ve always said our clients are more than friends. They’re family. Last night we lost [seven] family members in the horrific plane crash,” reads a statement posted Thursday to Fowl Plains’ Facebook page. “[Seven] family members we’ve had the privilege to hunt with the last few years. We’ve spent this past week, sharing the blind, laughing, talking about our families, and sharing memories. We are completely heartbroken. Please pray for the families, friends and for our [three] other hunters in the group who were driving home. Heartbroken is an understatement.”
The seven men who died are Jonathan “Jon” Boyd, 40; Tommy Clagett, 38; Alexander “Alex” Huffman, 34; Steve Johnson, 45; Charles “Charlie” McDaniel, 44; Jesse Pitcher, 30; and Michael “Mikey” Stovall, 40. Many of them were fathers.
Some men had been repeat clients of Fowl Plains, and this year’s trip included duck and goose hunting, plus a pen-raised pheasant shoot, according to the Eagle. Fowl Plains shared hunting photos of the men, including one of Stovall with a stud bull pintail and nine men standing behind a log piled with snow geese, specks, and Canadas. It’s not immediately clear if the photos were from this week or past seasons. Kansas’ duck season ended Sunday, but goose seasons remain open.
Fowl Plains owner Chase White told the newspaper that at least they had been “able to do something for the last five or six days that they all loved together.” When Outdoor Life reached White by phone Friday, he declined to provide additional comment out of respect for the men’s families.
Many of the men had been friends since childhood, and four were members of the UA Steamfitters Local 602, a union that represents heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, and piping tradesmen.
Johnson was both a member of the 602 and a regular participant in the White Marlin Open, one of the biggest billfishing tournaments in the country. In August two of the anglers aboard Johnson’s boat, the Ctrl+Alt+Del, won a daily prize in the Open for two tuna that weighed in at 178.5 and 154.5 pounds. Capt. Johnson and his team ultimately won a check for $75,850.
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Local chapters of Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, NWTF, and other groups, including Maryland-based Benelli USA, have organized or donated to a separate GoFundMe page for the hunters’ families. A verified GoFundMe page has been set up to support some families of crash victims, including a dedicated fund for Stovall, who is survived by his wife and son.
“There was seven wonderful guys there,” Stovall’s mother, Christina Stovall, told WINK News. “Mikey did not have one enemy … he was the life of the party. He loved everybody.”
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