Family confirms Omaha surgeon and two relatives killed in Victoria plane crash

Kim Hyatt, Star Tribune
·5 min read

An Omaha surgeon and two relatives were killed in a plane crash Saturday evening in Victoria, according to family.

Jo Mertes of Mantador, ND, confirmed in a phone call Sunday that her nephew, Jacob Mertes, was a passenger on the single-engine Mooney M20 plane that crashed.

Jacob Mertes, 42, of Libby, MT, was on the plane with his wife, Sara Mertes (Huddleston), 37, and stepfather, Dr. James Edney, who was the pilot, according to Jo Mertes.

The Federal Aviation Administration has not identified the pilot or other victims, but the Carver County Sheriff's Office said there were "multiple victims" and "no survivors."

The City of Victoria said in a statement on the crash that there are "confirmed fatalities," but none from the nearby house on Rose Street that was struck by the plane and caught on fire. The family was home at the time of the crash, but no one there was injured, nor were any bystanders.

"This is a tragic event that happened near the heart of Victoria and our community will keep the victims of this incident and their loved ones in our thoughts and prayers during this time," the city said in the statement.

The plane is owned by Edney, an Omaha general surgeon and professor of surgery at University of Nebraska Medical Center. Sara Mertes' Facebook page shows that she was a physician at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center in Libby, while Jacob Mertes worked as a sanitarian and planner for the Lincoln County Health Department.

Robert Katz, a 40-year aviation expert from Dallas who is a certified flight instructor and commercial pilot, follows plane crashes across the country. He analyzed the Victoria crash, listening to the audio communication between the pilot and traffic control leading up to the crash and watching footage of the aftermath.

"It's an absolute miracle that no one on the ground was hurt by this," Katz said in a phone interview Sunday. "Listening to audio of the pilot, he was clearly in trouble."

Debris from the plane landed in nearby yards and struck at least one house, igniting a fire that witnesses quickly extinguished. The FAA said no bystanders were injured in the crash that remains under investigation. The agency released few details in the aftermath of the crash, but shared the flight path of the plane that took off from the airport in Alexandria, Minn., to Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie where it went down around 5:45 p.m. Saturday near Hwy 5 and County Road 11.

The weather Saturday evening near Flying Cloud showed a 1,000-foot ceiling, which Katz said means the clouds were 1,000 feet above ground. "I believe that as he was descending, he became disoriented in the clouds," said Katz, adding that he listened to the pilot call into Flying Cloud air traffic control center Saturday night and watched security camera footage that caught the quick, fiery crash.

The plane is privately owned with no commercial purpose, according to plane registration details on the FAA. The website Flight Aware shows Edney did not have an instrument flight rules flight plan on file. "That means he must remain clear of the weather at all times," Katz said.

The plane was intact and upon impact with the vacant lot, the wings, which store aviation fuel, ripped open and ignited once it hit the hot engine components, Katz said.

The Carver County Sheriff's Office said further information on the crash will come from the National Transportation Safety Board. The FAA said in a statement that the NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide additional updates, adding that either the FAA or NTSB identifies people involved in aircraft crashes.

Neighbors and nearby employees at the Holiday Gas Station across the street rushed to the scene.

Levi Pemberton, a cashier at the gas station, said he heard a "pop" and turned around and saw a "huge explosion and a big fire." He ran to the crash site and saw charred metal plane parts, including one large piece that looked like a tail sticking up.

"The fire was big enough to scorch the house," he said.

Amy Jensen, who lives two blocks south of the crash site, said she heard a "thud-thud" as the plane went over her house, then all fell quiet, so she knew something was wrong. Outside, she saw three pieces of the plane scattered over several yards.

Terrible as it was, "if there had to be a plane crash, this was a best-case scenario," she said, adding that Victoria "was full of people" Saturday and restaurants and bars in the area were packed.

One of those people was Floyd Nagler, 71, who was on the nearby patio at Floyd's with two fellow Vietnam War veterans to celebrate his wife's birthday when they heard the sound of a revving engine and looked up to see the plane arcing down. A wing was folded back, he said, and the aircraft then "augured into the ground."

He said he knew there was no hope for the pilot.

"You kind of recognize when things are coming to an end," he said. "Then you just see what you can do to help."

He grabbed a hose and sprayed water on the house.

"It was quite the sight," Nagler said.

Staff writers Tim Harlow and Anthony Lonetree contributed to this report.

Kim Hyatt • 612-673-4751

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