Crowe

A veteran of Iraq and longtime Oregon National Guard recruiter, Murray Allan Crowe told his wife that he felt free when he was flying.

“No stress, no nothing — just flying and enjoying the view,” said his wife, Carmen Crowe, of Crooked River Ranch.

Murray Crowe, 47, died Sunday when his Challenger II light airplane crashed near the Prineville Airport. While still in shock over the death of her husband of 25 years, Carmen Crowe, also 47, said she took solace that he died doing what he loved to do.

A career military man, Murray Crowe enlisted in the U.S. Army in August 1984, Capt. Stephen Bomar, spokesman for the Oregon National Guard, wrote in an email. Crowe served in Iraq in 2010 and 2011.

“It’s just a tragic loss, not only to the National Guard but to the state of Oregon,” Bomar said in a phone call.

His awards and decorations included the Meritorious Service Medal and Expert Infantry Badge.

A sergeant first class, Crowe was qualified in air assault and had been an army parachutist. He also was trained to help troops recognize and cope with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Being in the Army led Crowe to meet the woman who would later become his wife and the mother of his two children. While stationed in Germany in 1986, he met Carmen in a disco. They wed two years later.

The Crowes moved to Central Oregon in 2001. Murray Crowe commuted to Springfield for work as a recruiter in the southern Willamette Valley, spending the workweek there and coming home on the weekends.

This spring, for their 25th anniversary, Murray Crowe surprised his wife with a trip to Hawaii. There they renewed their vows on the beach, she wearing the veil from their wedding.

“It was just beautiful,” she said.

She said her husband was an amazing man who always took care of his family.

“I would always call him my ‘lottery win,’” Carmen Crowe said. “That is what I would say. I might not have the money, but I won the lottery.”

The Crowes’ son and daughter live at home in Crooked River Ranch. Steven Crowe, 17, is a senior at Redmond High School, and Stephanie Crowe, 23, graduated last spring from Oregon State University with a fine arts degree.

Steven Crowe, a member of the Civil Air Patrol in Bend and the ROTC at his school, shared with his father a love of flying. The two also shared a plane. The Challenger II is a home-built plane that the Federal Aviation Administration classifies as an experimental aircraft.

The family bought the partially constructed plane for $5,000 a couple of years ago, and Murray and Steven Crowe worked together to make it airworthy.

They kept the plane in a hangar at the Prineville Airport and would take turns flying it on solo trips.

Both father and son had student licenses with the FAA allowing them to fly solo but not together, Carmen Crowe said. Murray Crowe had 75 hours of flight time.

A pilot must earn an endorsement from a flight instructor to fly solo, according to the FAA. The certificate does not mean the pilot is currently in training. To obtain the student pilot license, the pilot needs to be at least 16 years old.

Along with his wife and children, Murray Crowe is survived by his mother Patricia Crowe, 71, of Newport; older brother Dean Crowe, of Portland; and younger sister Julie Baldwin, of Arizona.

Crash investigation

As Crowe’s family mourns, the investigation into the crash that killed him continues.

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are trying to determine what happened around 11:30 a.m. Sunday to cause the plane to go down near Tom McCall Road and Oregon Highway 126, northeast of the airport. An initial NTSB report will likely be out late this week or early next week, and a full report should be out in six months to a year.

Dave Young, who lives on North Main Street northeast of the Prineville Airport, said he heard a plane in trouble late Sunday morning. Young was tinkering around his shop when he heard an airplane motor sputter and then quit. The pilot started it up again, but the problem persisted.

“He was able to start it up three times, and each time it revved up really high and then cut off again,” said Young, 78, a retired aerospace engineer.

Each time the engine ran for about 20 seconds before cutting off again. Young spotted the plane flying at between 2,000 and 3,000 feet, going west. While he didn’t see the plane crash, he said it was likely the plane piloted by Murray Crowe.

“The last time I saw (the plane) it was headed for the airport,” he said.