One of multiple aircraft crashes before a major aviation convention in Oshkosh, WI, resulted in two fatalities over the weekend, including a Hill Country-area pilot. Thirty-year-old Devyn Reiley, who grew up in Wimberley as the oldest of the 13 Collie family children, was killed when the World War II-era airplane she was flying crashed into Lake Winnebago on Saturday, July 29, according to the US Coast Guard. Reiley, who co-owned Texas Aviation Academy in New Braunfels before its closing earlier this year, was in Wisconsin for the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture convention. Passenger Zach Colliemoreno, 20, was also killed, according to an Experimental Aircraft Association spokesperson.
Public flight data shows the airplane took off from Wittman Regional Airport just before 9 a.m. It flew north of downtown Oshkosh and over Lake Winnebago, reaching an altitude of 3,900 ft. before abruptly crashing into the lake five minutes after takeoff. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
Reiley became a certified private pilot in 2017 and was working toward becoming a certified commercial pilot, according to a Facebook post from Texas Warbird Museum, a nonprofit she co-founded with her husband Hunter and his family to preserve retired WWIIera military aircraft and share aviation stories from the Rio Grande Valley.
Jerod Flohr, director of operations at Pacific Aero Ventures, said that with Hunter’s permission, he would be creating a scholarship program in her name, which he hopes to present annually during Air-Venture Oshkosh.
“Devyn had an amazing and far reaching impact on our aviation community and we are pulling together to keep her memory and legacy alive. Please standby for us to gather our thoughts and resources to do this the right way, the way that best honors Devyn and her wonderful family,” Flohr wrote on Facebook. “The idea will be to carry forward her passion of inspiring and supporting young aviators to follow their dreams of carrying the torch and spirit of the WASP and like-minded forward.”
Reilly was a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, a civilian women’s pilot association formed during WWII. She and her husband, who met at AirVenture, had just celebrated three years of marriage on July 26.
