Plane crash kills pilot, daughters

RENO -- A small plane that crashed while approaching the airport in Fallon killed the No. 2 officer at the local naval air station and his three young daughters.

Cmdr. Luther H. Hook III, 44, executive officer at Naval Air Station Fallon, was killed Friday night when his twin-engine Cessna 320 crashed and burst into flames about a mile from the runway after a flight from Fresno, Calif., base spokesman Zip Upham said.

The crash also killed his three daughters by a previous marriage, Kaitlyn Hook, 15, Rachel Hook, 12, and Mackenzie Hook, 9.

"We're in a bit of shock," Upham said. "Commander Hook was very well liked, and is going to be both missed and difficult to replace as executive officer of the air station.

"The fact that it's Memorial Day weekend makes the loss of our executive officer even more poignant," he added.

A witness told authorities the plane appeared to be in distress and maneuvering erratically before the crash.

The National Weather Service said wind was gusting up to 40 mph at the time in the agricultural and ranching town about 60 miles east of Reno.

Hook had flown to Fresno on Friday afternoon to pick up his daughters and was bringing them to Fallon for the weekend when his private plane crashed, Upham said.

According to FAA records, the plane was manufactured in 1966 and had no prior events.

Hook, a native of Havana, Fla., and a 1986 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, had been stationed at Fallon since 2005, serving first as operations officer and then as executive officer.

"He did all the administrative, disciplinary and detail work that makes the base run," Upham said.

The decorated pilot amassed over 2,700 flight hours in an F/A-18 Hornet, flying from the USS Kitty Hawk and other aircraft carriers.

The Fallon base's elite Strike and Air Warfare Center was formed in 1996 with the consolidation of the Navy fighter Weapons School known as "Top Gun" and the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School, or "Top Dome."

The crash is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.

On May 9, a small plane nose-dived into a cow pasture outside nearby Gardnerville, about 50 miles south of Reno, killing all five people aboard.

The pilot was making low passes over a gathering of people branding cattle shortly before the plane crashed, the National Transportation Safety Board said.