Prominent Pilot Killed in East Hampton Plane Crash

A prominent and beloved local pilot was killed on Thursday, October 6, when the small plane he was piloting alone apparently suffered a catastrophic mechanical or structural failure and crashed into the waters of Three Mile Harbor.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are analyzing the wreckage of the small aircraft, a Seamax M-22 seaplane, that eyewitnesses say lost a portion of its wing in flight and spiraled quickly downward, crashing violently into the harbor, killing its pilot, Kent Feuerring, 57, of Sagaponack.

News of the East Hampton crash sent a shock through the local aviation community, for whom Feuerring had long been a tireless and adroit advocate through years of conflict with East Hampton Town and residents from neighborhoods below flight paths, over efforts to tamp down noise impacts of the airport.

Witnesses to the crash said that a portion of the plane’s wing appeared to break off suddenly while making loops over the head of the harbor and that the plane spiraled out of the air quickly.

The same make and model of plane suffered a similar failure involving a wing in 2019 in Italy, killing the pilot and a passenger.

“The gentleman has been flying around here most of the summer — it’s a little seaplane with an engine on top with the propeller behind the engine,” said John Reid, who lives on the shore of the harbor only a few hundred feet from the crash site and was in his backyard at the time of the crash. “Today, my wife and I happened to be out here, and we heard him coming, and looked up and, as he got over us, he was at about 1,000 feet, I’d say he was.

“As he came over the marina here, his wing just fell off,” Reid added. “That spiraled down … and he flipped to the right and spiraled in a very awkward way down to the water and crashed. There was a very loud explosion and a couple of flames and smoke. My first reaction was that nobody could have possibly survived.”

Reid said the plane had made a couple of gentle circles over the harbor, as he had seen the same distinctive-looking plane do before, and everything appeared to be fine until the sudden failure of the wing.

“It sounded like it was running fine up to that point,” he said, standing on the deck of his house Thursday afternoon.

Another witness said he’d seen the plane as it made lazy circles over the harbor and had just looked away when he heard a “snap.”

“The plane did a circle or two here, and I was just stepping onto my boat and I heard a snap — it wasn’t the crash, it was something breaking — and then I heard the engine revving up and down,” John Butts said. “Then I heard something that sounded like it was breaking, and I looked up and then there was the crash, right away.”

East Hampton Town Police said that they received the first report of the crash about 12:30 p.m. Officers responded to the scene and found the wreckage and deceased pilot on the shoreline.

The plane landed in the water about 150 feet from the shoreline and then drifted to the bank of the harbor where East Hampton Town Police Dive Team and Marine Patrol and federal investigators worked throughout the day to gather parts of the wreckage. Several parts of the aircraft, including a large section of wing, were also visible amid the trees of the Oyster Shores community.

An NTSB spokesman said that two investigators were dispatched to the crash scene along with Federal Aviation Administration officials and spent several days gathering evidence and investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash. The wreckage was removed from the harbor and will be documented, then turned over to insurance investigators, the spokesman, Peter Knudson, said.

A preliminary report offering a simple factual detailing of the crash will be released later this month, Knudson said, but a conclusive report on the cause could be months away.

The flight tracking service FlightAware shows that the plane had departed East Hampton Airport at 12:19 p.m., headed south over the western edge of Georgica Pond to the Atlantic, then turned east and flew up the coast — the pilot swooping down over the water as low as 300 feet altitude — to Two Mile Hollow Beach, where it turned north again toward the Three Mile Harbor area, climbing above 1,000 feet as it came back over land. The plane had been in the air only nine minutes when it vanished from tracking.

Reid said a couple of other local pilots had come to the water’s edge shortly after the crash and said they thought they knew who the pilot was.

“I am crushed for his family,” Reid said. “He looked like he was just having fun. It’s tragic.”

The 2022 Seamax M-22 is a very small, very light aircraft capable of landing and taking off from both land or water. It has just two seats, a large glass canopy and a single-propeller engine with an 80-horsepower motor.

The aircraft was owned by a limited liability company, N46PD LLC, with an East Hampton address. Other pilots said that the plane was actually owned by a close friend of Feuerring’s and that Feuerring flew it frequently this past summer.

The Seamax M-22 is classified as what’s known as a “light sport” aircraft. At just over 700 pounds, it’s only one step above what would be known as an ultralight. The model that Feuerring was flying, an acquaintance said, had folding wings so that it could be stored in a small container and transported easily.

The airplane’s manufacture, Seamax Aircraft, posted a “note of condolence” on its website this week.

“Seamax LLC sympathizes with the loss of the pilot of the Seamax M-22 SN 168 aircraft,” the brief statement reads. “Although aware that nothing can compensate for this loss, the company is committed to supporting the family and the investigation of the accident.”

According to the online database Aviation Safety Network, a Seamax M-22 crashed on February 14, 2021, in Vigevano, Italy, killing its two occupants. The account of the incident, which the online report says was confirmed with investigating authorities, echoes details of the East Hampton crash.

“After takeoff the aircraft, initially in level flight, made a small turn to the left,” the account reads. “At this point, the right wing detached at the root, remaining behind the trajectory of the aircraft. The aircraft initially continued straight ahead and then crashed almost vertically into a forest.”

The plane was also a Seamax M-22 with the foldable wing option. The Italian investigation report concludes that the crash was caused by an incorrect assembly of the folding wing mechanisms.

Memorial services for Feuerring were held on Wednesday at Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton. Funeral services will be held Thursday, October 13, at the First Presbyterian (Old Whalers’) Church in Sag Harbor at 1 p.m.

Feuerring, who was 57, was a television advertising producer and filmmaker. He was a Miami native who had summered with his family in Amagansett since childhood. He lived in Sagaponack and Los Angeles.

His family has set up a scholarship fund in his honor. Donations may be made to the Kent Feuerring Memorial Aviation Scholarship Fund, c/o CharitySmith Nonprofit Foundation, 13100 Filly Lane, Truckee, CA 96161.