Popular dentist, wife identified as victims of fiery Molokai crash

A retired Kahala dentist living on Molokai and his wife have been identified as the victims that died in the fiery crash of a small plane on Molokai Sunday.

The family of William F. Vogt, 78, and Lynn Vogt, 74, have notified his former dental partner Dr. Derek Takai’s office that the two were killed in the crash, said Toni Mata, who worked in Vogt’s front office for six years. Takai bought the practice from Vogt after he retired in the mid 2000s.

“I’ve been telling people basically that he was a very nice man and his wife was a very kind woman,” Mata said. “He cared a lot about his patients and his patients loved and respected him as a dentist.”

Mata said she knew Vogt was an avid pilot who loved to fly his Cessna 206. The propeller plane crashed while en route to the Molokai Airport, “under unknown circumstances,” said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor released the plane’s tail number as N732DF earlier today. According to the FAA’s aircraft registry, the plane belonged to Vogt, who had a private pilot’s license.

Gregor said FAA inspectors will travel to Molokai tomorrow to begin investigating the crash. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said the NTSB investigator has been delayed due to weather, but its possible that he also will arrive tomorrow.

Maui Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto said firefighters and police discovered the bodies Sunday afternoon after responding to a 11:15 a.m. alert from the Molokai Air Traffic Control saying that they had lost communication with an aircraft that would have been three to four miles west of the airfield when contact was broken.At 12:12 p.m, Sunday., firefighters located wreckage of the small private aircraft in a remote location.

“We were able to locate the wreckage in a difficult-to-reach brush area, three to four miles west of the airport just east of the FAA navigational aid —the land-based radio beacon that pilots use to navigate between the islands,” said Maui Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto.

While it was not raining at the time, fire crews reported seeing low cloud ceilings and fog down to the road when they responded to the crash.

Taomoto said firefighters and police would remove the bodies from the aircraft and that police would secure the scene until investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board arrive.