4 Yosemite Plane Crash Victims Identified

Authorities on Sunday identified four residents of northern Nevada who were killed in a weekend plane crash at Yosemite National Park.

Found dead were William D. Ross, 69, a resident of Incline Village and the pilot of the twin-engine plane; John T. Hunsicker, 30, of Gardnerville; Stephen C. Aldrich, 42, of Gardnerville, and Constance Minor, 47, of Reno.

The plane crashed on the south side of Mt. Lyell at 11,800 feet, and the bodies and wreckage were found 1,300 feet below.

A National Park Service spokeswoman said the victims had taken off at 1 p.m. Friday from Sequoia Field in Visalia and were returning across the Sierra Nevada range to Carson City. About 6 p.m. Friday, authorities detected an emergency signal coming from the area, on the eastern boundary of Yosemite. Searchers reached the plane Saturday in an area where snow is still piled 10 to 15 feet deep, park spokeswoman Debi Drake said.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration arrived at the site Sunday. The last fatal airplane crash in Yosemite occurred in 1986 at Gayler Peak, Drake said.