Flight instructors identified as Oroville plane crash victims, aviation community grieves

OROVILLE, Calif. — The Butte County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) confirmed the identities of the two men who died after a plane crash at the Oroville Airport Thursday afternoon. Friends are identifying their deep ties to the Butte County aviation community.

BCSO Community Relations Coordinator Megan McMann confirmed the men as 75-year-old Ronald McHale of Oroville and 66-year-old Kurt Dunning of Chico. The two were pronounced dead after the plane they were in crashed nose-first into a portion of the Oroville Airport near Larkin Road just after noon on Thursday.

Friends and former students of the men reveal to KRCR that they were both longtime flight instructors that taught out of the Oroville Airport. A former student of Dunning, Aaron DuBois, says his long history of teaching others the same craft that killed him is prolonging the shock.

"His devotion to turning students into competent safe real-world pilots was commendable," says DuBois during a phone interview Friday morning. "So again, that's why this accident is such a major shock to myself and I would imagine everybody in the aviation community because he was such an amazing instructor and pilot, that something like this could happen to somebody who is so talented."

The Oroville Police Department and CAL FIRE Butte County are unsure how much more information will be released Friday, but say that the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration continue to investigate the origin of the crash. Until then, friends are left to wonder and speculate the cause of the crash.

Friends who have known the pair for decades also wrote in to express the character of the "great" flight instructors of Butte County.

"I knew both of them. Kurt was a great guy and great flight instructor that trained many in this area, and he could always be counted on to help give local kids free rides during our EAA Young Eagles events and Fly-Ins," wrote Gonzalo (Peewee) Curiel, frequent flyer and CEO of EEA Chapter 1112, in an email. "He was very well-liked in the aviation community."

"Ron McHale was a quick understudy during his days with me as a student pilot in 2008 and quickly achieved most all of the FAA certifications for being a flight instructor. He was a smart and intelligent gentleman and was very successful in his various," wrote Flight Instructor Garry Lee in an email. "Kurt Dunning I knew fairly well as he was a geography & meteorology student at Butte College in the late 70s, later in the 90s sharing skydiving piloting duties in Paradise, and during the past two decades sharing flight students from Oroville, Chico & Paradise airports as private flight instructor contractors."

Officials say it could be months before the results of the official investigation are revealed but more is expected early next week.

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