Fox 8 reporter Nancy Parker and pilot Franklin Augustus were killed Friday when their plane crashed in New Orleans.
Parker, 53, and Augustus, 69, were traveling in New Orleans to film a news segment when their plane crashed in a field near Jordan Rd. and Morrison Rd.
Lynn Lunsford, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson, told BuzzFeed that the plane, a 1983 Pitts S-2B aircraft (a light airplane stunt pilots commonly used for aerobatics), crashed at about 3 p.m. local time, about half a mile south of the New Orleans Lakefront Airport.
Police and paramedics rushed to the scene of the crash and fire crews had to put out a fire. The cause of the crash was not immediately known but National Transportation Safety Board officials and Federal Aviation Administration officials were investigating.
Parker was an Emmy-award winning reporter as well as an author of children’s books. She worked for 23 years at Fox 8 (WVUE), and at the time of her death, she was an anchor for primetime newscasts.
Nancy, a native of Opelika, Alabama, attended Opelika High school. She started working as a news reporter when she was a 17-year-old high school senior. She got a job as an evening news anchor at the local AM radio station.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1988 from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. After graduating, she worked in the congressional press office of the late U.S. Congressman Bill Nichols in Washington D.C. In 1989, she started working on TV as an Alabama Bureau reporter for WTVM Channel 9 in Columbia, Georgia.
She started working as a weekend anchor for WVUE (Fox 8) in 1996.
'My heart is shattered': Glen Boyd pays tribute to wife Nancy Parker in heartbreaking Facebook post https://t.co/lIjBdKHKJd pic.twitter.com/k8deAB1WzD
— NOLA.com (@NOLAnews) August 17, 2019
I had the honor of sitting down several times over the years to discuss important issues with Nancy Parker. She was a dedicated journalist. This is a tremendous loss for her family, her friends and the entire New Orleans community. https://t.co/E1Ui7CEx3U
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) August 17, 2019
Photo: A very touching memorial to Nancy Parker outside the Fox 8 studios on Saturday afternoon pic.twitter.com/MiMSS0PDNo
— Michael DeMocker (@MichaelDeMocker) August 17, 2019
RIP. Nancy Parker was 53 and is survived by her husband and three children. Killed in a plane crash while covering a story. pic.twitter.com/duIBjeCdlu
— Josh Mankiewicz (@JoshMankiewicz) August 17, 2019
A lot of people are offering their condolences to Nancy Parker, one of the victims involved in the plane crash in New Orleans East. pic.twitter.com/0kBiYIFkvI
— Duke Carter II (@dcarterII) August 17, 2019
In Loving ❤️ Memory Of
NANCY PARKER ? @NancyParkerFOX8
? FOX 8️⃣ NOLA#NancyParker #FOX8 #NOLA pic.twitter.com/E7lq2sfRVu— Prez Blackmon (@prezblackmon) August 17, 2019
According to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Parker was an “invaluable member” of the local community and a “beautiful human being” who did her work as a reporter with “professionalism, intelligence, warmth and grace.”
The local police also eulogized her, saying that she loved New Orleans and everyone loved her.
Augustus was a stunt pilot and president of Louisiana’s Lake Charles Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Association. He was also an anti-drug campaigner.
Parker is survived by her husband Glen Boyd and three children.