Civil Air Patrol states that the pilot of the small plane that crashed into downtown Anchorage office buildings on December 28 did not request authorization before using the search-and-rescue aircraft.
National Spokeswoman Julie DeBardelaben with the Civil Air Patrol said Monday that pilot Doug Demarest did not follow through on the organization’s requirement to request the trip and took the plane without permission.
Demarest was the sole occupant and the only person killed in the early morning hours of December 28 when his Cessna 172 clipped the building housing the law firm Dorsey & Whitney before slamming into another downtown building.
Demarest family spokeswoman Jahna Lindemuth says the death was a suicide.
The 42-year-old pilot had taken the plane owned by the Civil Air Patrol from its hangar at Merrill Field, a small airport near downtown Anchorage.
The Dorsey & Whitney office building where Demarest’s wife works was reopened Monday, nearly one week after the crash.
Demarest’s wife has been named a partner at the law firm since the crash last week.
