The owner and operator of a plane that crashed in North Myrtle Beach on July 2, killing all five people on board, was a medical examiner whose recommendations helped determine the readiness of current and future pilots.
Dr. Joseph Farnese, 66, of North Caldwell, N.J., was one of five people who died in a fiery crash along Pete Dye Drive, part of Barefoot Resort.
In an agency directory, Farnese was listed as an accredited aviation medical examiner for the FAA’s eastern region.
Pilot Medical Solutions states on its website, “Aviation Medical Examiners are an integral part of the medical certification process, ensuring that airmen meet the medical requirements prescribed by the Federal Aviation Regulations and are medically fit to perform safety-related duties.”
Through excellence in aeromedical certification of airmen, AMEs play a crucial role in the FAA Office of Aviation Medicine’s mission to promote aviation safety.
In its initial report, the FAA said a single-engine Piper PA32 crashed under “unknown circumstances” shortly after taking off from Grand Strand Airport at 11:02 a.m.
The names of the other victims were released Wednesday. They are:
Sean Gardner, 7, of East Orange, N.J.
Odaycia Edwards, 17, of East Orange, N.J.
East Orange, New Jersey, resident Tanique Cheu, 32.
Coleman-Edwards, 42, of East Orange, New Jersey.
According to Farnese’s profile on the professional networking site doximity, he was board certified in Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and affiliated with St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, N.J. In 1984, he graduated from St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada.
A plane crash happened near a North Myrtle Beach golf course on July 2 killed five people, ranging in age from 7 to 66, according to the Horry County Coroner’s Office.
Many of the victims had relatives in Jamaica, so it took several days for the names to be released. Many of those who died were New Jersey residents.
Tamara Willard, Chief Deputy Coroner, said all of them died from “traumatic and thermal injuries.” Four people died on the scene. The Piper PA-32 went down in a wooded area off Pete Dye Drive about an hour and 20 minutes after Coleman-Edwards died at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center at 12:15 p.m.
Farnese was the pilot of the plane that crashed one minute after taking off at 11:02 a.m., according to Willard.
A federally maintained aircraft directory indicates Farnese was the plane’s registered owner. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.
Initial reporting stated: on July 2, a Piper PA32 crashed under “unknown circumstances” soon after taking off from a Grand Strand Airport runway. The incident occurred near Barefoot Resort’s Dye Course around 11:30 a.m.