FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – Jeffrey Salan, 70, of Ormond Beach, and Mohammed Alanazi, 27, from Saudi Arabia, died when a twin-engine plane from an Ormond Beach flight school went down late Thursday night, the medical examiner confirmed.
After hours of searching near the Flagler-St. Johns county line, the Piper PA44 was found Friday upside down in a clump of trees near Pellicer Creek, just west of Marineland. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said one body was found with the wreckage and there did not appear to be any survivors.
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Salan was a flight instructor for Sunrise Aviation Fight School. A spokesman for the school said they were on a routine night training flight.
UNCUT: Flagler sheriff details plane crash
"The families of the student, all of whom are in Saudi Arabia, and the family of our local instructor are all distraught, as you can imagine," said Patrick Murphy, director of training for Sunrise Aviation.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Salan's family with funeral expenses.
"Jeff could have focused his career on making money, flying big jets and seeing the world, however, he chose to be home each day and do the one job he took even more pride in than teaching: being a father and husband," the GoFundMe page reads. "Jeff has been married to his loving wife, Jane, for 40 years, and they raised two dutiful and family-oriented children. As the sole-earner in the household, Jeff worked nearly every day of the year to provide for his family. This loss has nearly broken us. We say nearly because he instilled in us his refusal to break or bend, even when times were at their worst. And times are certainly at their worst for our family."
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. They have not provided any indication of what might have caused the plane to go down.