HALF MOON BAY — A second body has been recovered 10 days after a plane crash off the coast of Half Moon Bay killed four Bay Area residents, authorities said.
Cassidy Rae Petit, 26, of Oakland, is seen in an undated photo. Petit died Jan. 14, 2024 when a small plane crashed off the coast of Half Moon Bay. Three other people died in the crash; Petit’s family said that her fiancé, Lochie Ferrier, 27, was among them. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Kjelleran)
The body of 26-year-old Cassidy Rae Petit, an Oakland resident who recently moved from Vermont, was spotted floating in the ocean near Ross’ Cove in Moss Beach, according to the San Mateo County Coroner’s Office. That site is about two miles south of where the single-engine aircraft she was riding in was seen falling out of the sky the evening of Jan. 14.
Petit’s remains were transferred to the harbor master at Pillar Point Marina and then put in the custody of the coroner’s office. She was positively identified through fingerprint analysis, the agency said in a news release Thursday.
Petit and her fiancée, 27-year-old Lochie Ferrier — who owned and was flying the four-seater Cozy MK IV — died in the crash, along with San Francisco couple Isaac Zimmern and Emma Willmer-Shiles, both 27. Willmer-Shiles’ body was recovered the day after they died.
Memorials for Petit and Ferrier are scheduled for Sunday in and around Burlington, Vermont, where the two met. Tragically, that is the day they were planning to marry in Kauai, Hawaii.
It remains unclear what caused the plane to fail. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, with a preliminary report expected by mid-February. Parts of the wreckage washed ashore and were recovered.
The plane crash was first reported shortly after 7 p.m. Jan. 14 when a witness alerted authorities to the sight of a small propeller plane flying erratically near Half Moon Bay Airport and Moss Beach Distillery, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. The caller reportedly heard the engine sputter out before the aircraft fell out of sight.
Rescuers from the U.S. Coast Guard and the sheriff’s office combed the waters that night and the following morning but eventually suspended their search.
Previous reporting has confirmed that Ferrier — an experienced test pilot — bought the homebuilt aircraft, assembled from several pre-built kits, last year.
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Petit’s family said she was a native of Biddeford, Maine, and is survived by her brother Curtis and her parents, Kim and Peter Petit. She attended the University of Vermont in Burlington, where she studied psychology and neuroscience.
Petit was remembered as an avid outdoor adventurer and while in Vermont, she had a founding role with a business incubator called Hula and a corresponding venture capital fund The Fund at Hula. She also co-founded the agricultural startup Burlington Bio.
She met Ferrier while living in Burlington, where he was working on electric aircraft with Beta Technologies. Along with their dog Kane, they moved to the Bay Area in February 2023, and Petit was hired as an analyst with RH Capital, focusing on investments to improve “innovation, access and equity across reproductive and maternal health.” Ferrier got a job working with electric aircraft with Magpie Aviation in Hayward.
The couple got engaged Sept. 27 while kayaking in Mexico.
