Omaha police have identified the two people who died as a result of a fiery plane crash Sunday morning at the Millard Airport.
M. David Steier, 63, and his wife, Arlene, 61, members of a widely known Omaha family, were killed.
Police released their names Monday after reaching the couple's relatives.
Dave Steier's parents, retired pharmacist Maurice and Marian Steier, were featured in The World-Herald in 2013 when they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. Dave Steier is one of the couple's eight children.
The crash occurred at about 8:45 a.m. Dave Steier died at the scene and his wife was taken to Creighton University Medical Center-Bergan Mercy, where she later died.
Witnesses said the 1962 Beechcraft Bonanza P35 appeared to have hit the ground hard. Weather probably wasn't a factor — it was 82 degrees with clear skies, 8 mph winds and high visibility at the time of the crash.
The Omaha Police Department, the Omaha Airport Authority police and Federal Aviation Administration investigators were at the scene Sunday. The airport remained closed until shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday.
An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board was expected to arrive from Chicago late Monday or early Tuesday, officials said. The NTSB will hold a 10 a.m. press conference on Tuesday at the Millard Airport, and it will post its first updates on the investigation to NTSB.gov this week. Investigations take a year or more to complete.
The last fatal crash at the airport was in December 2005, when three people died in a crash shortly after takeoff.
