2 men killed in Afton crash of vintage airplane are identified

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
Updated ·2 min read

The pilot and passenger who were killed when the World War II-era airplane they were flying crashed Saturday morning in Afton have been identified.

Killed were William “Pat” Moore, 85, of White Bear Lake, the pilot of the Globe GC-1B Swift, and his passenger, Mitchell J. Zahler, 68, of Baytown Township, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Several neighbors near the 15000 block of Afton Hills Boulevard South called 911 shortly before 9:45 a.m. after hearing what they said sounded like a small explosion. When emergency crews arrived, they found a fully engulfed plane that had crashed near a home’s attached garage, according to the sheriff’s office.

The men, who flew out of Lake Elmo Airport in Baytown Township, were en route to the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum, an aviation museum, in Granite Falls, Minn., officials said.

Moore and Zahler were part of a contingent of four to six planes flying to the museum on Saturday, said Melanie Zahler, Zahler’s sister. “They were leaving around 9, and he said he would be back at 2,” she said.

Zahler was a longtime pilot who loved working on and building airplanes at his hangar at Lake Elmo Airport, Melanie Zahler said. “He was a passenger in this plane, but he loved flying,” she said. “He built Swifts.”

Zahler grew up on a dairy farm in Withrow, just west of Stillwater, and graduated from Stillwater Area High School in 1973, she said. He worked at Andersen Corp., in Bayport, until his retirement in 2011.

He and his wife, Maureen, had been married for 34 years, she said.

“He was just an amazing person,” Melanie Zahler said. “He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. He was the nicest guy. My brother was one who couldn’t say ‘No.’ He was always helping somebody else.”

The Bradshaw Funeral Home in Stillwater is handling Zahler’s funeral arrangements.

The incident, including the cause of the crash and any contributing factors, remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, said Laura Perkins, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.

Witnesses to the plane crash or those who have surveillance footage or other information that could be relevant to the investigation are asked to contact the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov.

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