On Monday, March 4th, a family of five flying a small plane crashed by Interstate 40. Just before the crash, pilot Victor Dotsenko, who was the father of the family, reported that the plane was quickly running out of power and wouldn’t be able to make an emergency landing at the John Tune Airport, located in Nashville, Tennessee.
The victims of the crash were husband and wife Victor (43) and Rimma Dotsenko (39), and their 3 children David (12), Adam (10), and Emma Dotsenko (7). The family of five flew into the states from Ontario, Canada, and faced an engine failure en-route to Nashville. The crash occurred between a Costco and the eastbound lanes of Interstate 40, narrowly missing both, just after dark around 7:45 pm. “The impact was catastrophic and did not leave any survivors,” said Kendra Loney, the public information officer for the Nashville Fire Department. Witnesses stated that the plane burst into flames immediately after hitting the ground. The cause of the engine failure is still uncertain, as an investigation is currently underway. The preliminary investigation is expected to be complete within a couple days, but a thorough investigation will most likely take around 10 months.
For some background, the family was flying a Piper PA-32RT-300T, which is a single engine plane that was released in the late 70’s. The original planes are still in use modernly but have been cited to have problems. The two most common issues were its hot running engine, which has been cited to cause fires, and the landing gear. The plane was designed to only be able to handle shorter trips like the one the Dotsenko family flew. Their plane went from Ontario, Canada to Erie, Pennsylvania to Mount Sterling, Kentucky and was on the way to Nashville, Tennessee. Additionally, the pilot, Victor Dotsenko, began flight lessons in 2022 and received his pilot license later that year, meaning that while the crash may have been partly caused by engine failure and the age/condition of the plane, it also could have been partly caused by inexperience.
The family lived in King Township, a town located within Ontario, Canada. In a recent statement, the mayor of their city Steve Pellegrini expressed his and the town’s grief upon hearing the news, “A heartbreaking and devastating loss for our tight-knit community. I extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the Dotsenko family.” The children of the Dotsenko family attended UMCA Rich Tree Academy, a private school in Maple, Ontario. Many students, teachers, and staff expressed their heartbreak under an Instagram post the school made sharing funeral information. The caption of the post also included a heartfelt statement, saying, “These beautiful children lit up our hallways every day. They all had such a positive energy and attitude towards their friends and teachers.”
Only a few days after this tragedy, another Piper PA-32 crashed in Madras, Oregon on March 10th. A married couple from Boise, Idaho, were the victims of the crash and the only two traveling in the plane. Their names were David and Venita Hagarty. Very little information about the crash has been made public, and an investigation into the cause of the crash is currently underway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
