BATESVILLE, Ind. -- Two of the three people killed Saturday evening in a small airplane crash were experienced members of the United States Civil Air Patrol, according to a statement issued by the CAP Monday night.
The organization, which functions as the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force, reported the deaths of Major Louis Cantilena, 63, of Potomac, Maryland, and Major Paul Schuda, 65 of Arlington, Virginia.
The third victim was Cantilena’s daughter, Dr. Amy Cantilena, 31, of Potomac, Maryland.
A dog aboard the plane also died. Another dog was found alive.
Watch drone footage of the wreckage in the player below:
Schuda was director of the National Transportation Safety Board Training Center at Ashburn, Virginia. That means he likely knew some of the people now investigating the circumstances of his death.
Cantilena taught clinical pharmacology and medical toxicology at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. He was an international authority on both, the university president said.
Cantoliena often worked at the famous Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, just outside Washington, D.C.
The two men were friends and had served 20 years in the CAP.
Amy Cantilena was following in her father's footsteps as a medical student at the University of Kansas
The men had flown to Kansas to pick up Amy and fly her home for the holidays.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Stephen Wheeles said the group had been traveling from Kansas City, Missouri, to Frederick, Maryland, when the plane went down in a wooded area near North Hamburg Road.
Firefighters arrived quickly to douse and clear the wreckage, but Wheeles estimated it could take days to clean up the scene.
"It will be an ongoing scene for quite a while because you have the magnitude of the crash and the area where it's at, being such a wooded area, a little bit difficult to get to," Wheeles said.
Wheeles added it was not yet clear what caused the crash.
Only one survivor got off the plane: A dog that showed up injured at a nearby home and was taken to a local veterinarian for treatment.
The dog must have jumped out of the plane before impact, according to WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.
