A recent Northeastern University graduate from Long Island has died in a plane crash while helping fight bushfires in the Australian outback.
Only son William Joseph Jennings, 22, was among three killed when their twin-engine Turbo Commander plunged 190,000ft in northwest Queensland at about 2pm local time on Friday, Australian officials confirmed.
The thrill-seeking Dix Hills native had just arrived Down Under just over two weeks earlier for a new job mapping the devastating fires that have ravaged the region.
He had previously texted his dad to say he was on his way to a new base in Mount Isa from Toowoomba — before going silent, with his family seeing on Find My iPhone the next day that he didn’t seem to be moving.
“I sent a text, got no response — which never happens,” dad Joe Jennings told Newsday about his son. “Call it intuition father, but I knew something was wrong.”
The father was still pacing the floor as his wife, Denise Jennings, waited upstairs when a Suffolk County police sergeant and two officers knocked on the door to say “there’s been a flight accident.”
“I started screaming, saying, ‘This can’t be true. It must have been a mistake,’” Denise’s mother said of the sad news that her only child had died.
William Joseph Jennings, 22, died on Friday when the twin-engine Turbo Commander plane they were piloting plunged 190,000 feet in Queensland, Australia.
“He is our pride and joy,” the mother said. “He was always smiling, was a happy young man, very intelligent, but very kind and humble.”
Joe’s father told Newsday that his son “was our life.”
“He’s a AAA kid — athletics, academics and the arts,” his father said of the “natural musician” who also ran at Hills West, graduating with honors in 2019.
The younger Jennings originally took an internship working on a thermal imaging camera in Hood River, Oregon after graduating college, when he earned a degree in mechanical engineering.
After that ended, he was working on railway surveillance in Arizona, when he got a call to go to Australia and work for the firefighting company AGAIR, because he was familiar with its aerial surveillance technology.
Will is the only child of Joe and Denise Jennings, who described him as “our life.”CBS
“Will was just a wanderer, so he jumped in,” his dad said.
“It happened so fast, but he wanted to go,” his mother said of her son who “loves to travel, he loves the outdoors, he loves photography.”
In Australia, Will is said to be proud of his work — telling his mother at one point, “I can tell my kids that their dad is a badass because I’m in Australia helping fight wildfires,” the Boston Globe reported.
The Australian government said the crash is currently under investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which could take weeks or months.
Jennings recently graduated from Northeastern University and was hired by the firefighting company AGAIR in Australia, as he was familiar with its thermal imaging cameras.CBS
Australian officials told Jennings’ parents that the plane fell from 190,000 feet in about a minute, his father said.
The Queensland Fire and Emergency Service expressed its sadness in a statement on Saturday.
“Side by side, we have fought these bushfires as one, and their loss is felt by all,” the statement said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and those who work with them, including our Air Operations staff.”
Initial reports indicated that the high-wing turboprop crashed near the remote town of Cloncurry — about 1,000 miles northwest of Brisbane.CBS
The Prime Minister of Australia also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims in a post on X.
“It is very sad that three brave souls working to help their fellow Australians have lost their lives in Queensland,” he wrote, describing the crash as “a tragic reminder of the dangers faced by those on the front lines of bushfires.
“My sincere condolences to their loved ones and colleagues at this time of grief.”
On Long Island, friends and family remember Will as a talented photographer and saxophonist who once played with his school’s jazz band at Carnegie Hall.
He often FaceTimes with his parents from the top of the mountain he has been on.
Will is also a talented saxophonist who has played at Carnegie Hall.CBS
An online fundraiser set up to pay for his funeral expenses and the cost of shipping his body back to the United States says he was “known for bringing light to any room he entered, and his sense of humor was contagious.
“She was full of life and potential, and left an impact on everyone she met,” read the fundraiser, which has raised more than $79,000 for the family.
Denise Jennings said her son’s death had left “a hole in our hearts that will never heal.
“But we have no regrets,” he said. “Every conversation we’ve ever had ends with, ‘I love you.’ He is a loving child.”
“We are very grateful for 22 years with him. They were the best years ever.”
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
