The pilot, Bill Henningsgaard, was killed along with his son, Maxwell, and two children who were in a house struck by the small propeller-driven plane on Friday. Officials have said emergency repairs were done after the crash to make the homes safe for the crews that recovered the bodies. (Published Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013) 
 
 East Haven police on Saturday released the names of the crash victims, including Henningsgaard, 54, of Medina, Wash.; his 17-year-old son; 13-year-old Sade Brantley and 1-year-old Madisyn Mitchell, who lived in the East Haven home hit by the plane. He said the pilot was making his first approach to the airport and did not declare an emergency before the crash. Among those in attendance was 39-year-old Joann Mitchell, the mother of the 13-year-old and the 1-year-old. On Saturday night, dozens of people turned out for a vigil at Margaret Tucker Park to honor those who died in the crash. East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo told the crowd at the vigil that the show of support was a great tribute. "I think this is a great tribute to a great town," the mayor said, "a caring town, a loving town. A town that comes out when things are down and people need you." Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement that the vigil was a "profound statement of the ties that bind East Haven and our entire state together as one community." "When a family suffers an unimaginable tragedy, we come together and pray that they have the strength they need to carry on," Malloy said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families tonight who are suffering from grief and loss." In the Connecticut crash, Henningsgaard was bringing the 10-seater plane, a Rockwell International Turbo Commander 690B, in for a landing at Tweed New Haven Airport in rainy weather just before noon when the plane struck two small homes, engulfing them in flames. Microsoft co-worker Paul Shoemaker had recently launched Social Venture Partners (SVP) and suggested that Henningsgaard join the board of one of SVP’s first investees, Youth Eastside Services. I’m attracted to people who can see possibilities in the world around us.
– It could be months before a full investigation of Friday's propeller plane crash in East Haven, Conn., is completed. In the meantime, the identities of the victims have been officially confirmed as Bill Henningsgaard, 54, a former Microsoft VP; his 17-year-old son, Maxwell; and two children in the house the plane hit, Sade Brantley, 13, and Madisyn Mitchell, 1. The town held a vigil for the victims on Saturday, NBC New York reports. Pilot Henningsgaard didn't declare an emergency prior to the crash, says a National Transportation Safety Board investigator; there is no evidence thus far that there was "anything wrong with the plane," he notes. It was Heningsgaard's first approach to Tweed-New Haven Airport, the investigator says, though other reports have described it as his second approach. Henningsgaard was a noted philanthropist, NBC adds; he was named as one of 2013's Superheroes for Washington Families by parenting organization ParentMap, the Daily Astorian reports. He had previously survived a 2009 plane accident.