Navy SEAL, 2 sailors among those hurt in Henderson plane crash

Three of the four men injured in a small plane crash near Henderson Executive Airport Sunday are active-duty military — a Navy SEAL and two sailors assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., the Navy said Monday.

The servicemen, whose names have not yet been released, are in serious but stable condition at University Medical Center, the Navy said.

"They were on a private aircraft on a personal trip that they were returning from. All were in a liberty status," Lt. Cmdr. Mark Walton said by telephone from Coronado, which is home to several SEAL teams and other components of the Navy‘s special operations forces.

Walton said a fourth man in the single-engine Piper Cherokee is a civilian. Witnesses said the plane was on fire when it crashed in the desert three miles southeast of Anthem, near the Inspirada community, after departing from Henderson Executive Airport at about 1:20 p.m. Sunday. The men were able to escape the wreck about 90 seconds before it exploded.

The registered owner of the airplane, Jody Lee Stuckey, 31, of Chula Vista, Calif., on Monday was listed as a patient in the University Medical Center burn unit, though no information about his condition was available Monday.

Walton wouldn‘t identify the servicemen, but according to media reports Stuckey completed basic training at the Navy‘s Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill. in 2013.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Sunday had the wreckage hauled to "a secure place," at the Henderson airport, said Aviation Safety Investigator Van McKenny.

Determining the cause of the crash could take as long as a year, he said.

McKenny said he doesn‘t know who was at the controls of the airplane when it went down.

Eye witness Carmine Buonanno said the plane had trouble gaining altitude after takeoff. He looked away momentarily and then saw the plane‘s tail upright, the fuselage heading toward the ground. He said he rushed to the crash site and saw passengers emerge from the wreckage.

About a minute later, he said, the plane exploded.

"They missed death by about a minute and a half."

Another witness who responded said he gave first aid to the men, treating two who suffered burns by pouring water on them and covering them with a wet T-shirt.

Contact reporter Kimberly De La Cruz at kdelacruz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find @KimberlyinLV on Twitter. Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2