By Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — An Antioch, Ill., man and his 14-year-old daughter were killed Sunday when their plane crashed as it approached a small airport just north of the Wisconsin-Illinois border, according to police and relatives.
The victims were identified by the family as Todd Parfitt, 50, and Nicole Parfitt, 14.
A single-engine Grumman plane registered to Parfitt crashed about 1:25 p.m. CST Sunday as it approached the airport in Burlington, Wis., about 20 miles north of the state line, officials said. Both victims were thrown from the plane, they said.
“The preliminary information is that it crashed while attempting to land,” said Lynn Lunsford, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Lunsford said the Burlington airport has no control tower, and the pilot was not in contact with air traffic controllers when the plane went down in a cornfield.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the airport Monday, according to Burlington Municipal Airport officials. The plane wreckage will be taken into a hanger so investigators can inspect it, an official said.
James McKay, superintendent of Community High School District 117, said Nicole was a ninth-grader at Antioch High School.
“She was a very active student. She was a member of the dance team,’’ he said. “Many, many kids know her in other ways.”
Counselors were at the school Monday helping students grieve and cope with the news, he said.
