Randy Cowling
Managing Editor
OWASSO — The three men who crashed in a Cardinal aircraft Sunday evening have been identified by authorities.
Richard Shimer, 64, of Owasso was piloting the 1973 Cessna 177 Cardinal when it crashed Sunday night in Rogers County, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Passengers Lonnie Hardin, 55, and Joseph Provenzano, 53, both of Tulsa, were also killed.
The crash happened in the backyard of a strip of homes just 100 yards north of Gundy airport's runway in Owasso.
The aircraft crashed just after 8 p.m. Sunday night.
A resident called 911 at 8:10 p.m. reporting a plane had crashed in their backyard, according to Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton. The wreckage could be seen just outside one of the many personal airplane hangars in the neighborhood.
Residents from the community were standing on the perimeter of the scene. The plane crashed about 200 yards north of the runway at the airport.
Owasso firefighters were first on the scene, Walton said. The crash resulted in multiple fatalities, the sheriff said.
Two witnesses at the scene differed on whether hear the plane's engine the time of the crash, said Lt. George Brown of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Brown said it was a low-level airplane, but inveatigators were unsure if it was attempting to land or take off of the community airport.
The OHP spokesman also said the plane turned and remained where the nose hit the ground.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is conducting an investigation of the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA will determine the cause of the crash.
Four years ago, William Barnes, 61, of Tulsa, died after trying to take off from a residential street east of Gundy’s Airport.
He was returning from a private airstrip when the plane crashed. His grandson survived the 2006 crash, according to the NTSB's report of the incident.
