The NTSB and other federal officials are looking into a plane crash that occurred Friday near Capitan, New Mexico.  KRQE-TV said the Coastal Airstrike team confirmed the pilot was Ronald “Van” Patton, who was not involved in firefighting on the South Fork Fire or the Salt Fire near Ruidoso but was on a ferry flight between airports.

Patton was an experienced pilot who’d logged more than 14,000 flight hours.

“The Coastal Air Strike team is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our tanker pilot and dear friend, Ronald ‘Van’ Patton, while on a ferry flight Friday, June 21st,” the company said.

Van was a second-generation airman who earned his pilot’s certificate as a teenager. He was also a respected aircraft mechanic and for decades held an inspector authorization (IA), building and maintaining various aircraft. One early build as a teenager was his dad’s RV-4, which — as his friends say — he used to terrorize the skies of the Oregon coast. He worked at Boeing in Portland, building control assemblies for a few years, then gave that up to fly ag planes. He settled in Keizer, Oregon with Industrial Aviation Services,  where he flew for 30 years. He transitioned into aerial firefighting, earning Coastal’s Rookie of the Year award in 2023.

Van was recently checked out in the single-engine scooper aircraft, a longstanding dream for him, and he used those skills this spring in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.  “I got to meet Van this spring in Brainerd,” said Sandie Youngblom. “He was a very kind person and very personable. He helped to hold down the fort here in Minnesota during an unprecedented early spring fire season.”

“I had the greatest honor of working with Van in Fredericksburg, Texas last fire season,” said Cassidy Ince. “His kind and funny personality lit up the base every single day. He will be missed by many.”