North Hampton Police Chief: No Determination on Crash for Months

Two Kingston residents, David Ingalls, 81, and Bruce Anderson, 62, perished in a Cessna crash not long after takeoff from Hampton Airfield on Sept. 1, but the cause of the crash won’t be determined for months, according to North Hampton Police Chief Brian Page.

In a statement, Page noted that the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, the NH State Aeronautics Division, and the New Hampshire State Police were all assisting the department in investigating crash.

“The North Hampton Police and the North Hampton Fire and Rescue Department are very fortunate to have the assistance of all of these agencies,” he said, “where we have no expertise in the investigation of plane crashes, and of course we do not have the resources within the town of North Hampton’s Public Safety Departments that would be required for conducting an investigation of this magnitude.”

While there is preliminary information on how the crash may have occurred, Page said, “the final determination will not be known for quite some time, possibly up towards 3-6 months based on my past experiences in working with the FAA and the NTSB on fatal plane crashes.”

At that time, the NTSB or the FAA will release its theories or initial opinions about the crash, he said. Those agencies, he noted, would be handling all media releases as it relates to the finding.