Don McMurtrie
12/22/1941 - 10/01/1994
Donald Eugene McMurtrie, 52, a Bartlesville resident died Saturday morning at Bartlesville Municipal Airport in an airplane crash.

Graveside services will be 2 p.m. Tuesday in Ramona Cemetery with the Rev. Curtiss Meade of Grace Discipleship Church in Bartlesville officiating. Interment will be in Ramona Cemetery under the direction of Stumpff Funeral Home. Honorary casket escorts will be Joe Sigler, Dwight Boesinger, Rick Beasley. Barbara Eck, Linda Sheets, Ozell Cox, Kendall Smith and Clarence Rice.

Frlends who wish may sign the memorial register book at Stumpff Funeral Home as the casket will remain closed at all times.

Memorials may be made to a the Flight Scholarship Fund to WestStar Bank, * c/o Kathy Sagel. P.O. Box 250, Dewey. OK 74029.
Mr. McMurtrie was bom on Dec. 22, 1941, in Sand Creek, west of Bartlesville in Osage County, to Charles P. and Cora Leona (Williams) McMurtrie. He was reared in Sand Creek and was a 1960 graduate of College High School. He attended the University of Tulsa;

He enlisted in the United States Army and served as an M.P. in El Paso, Texas, until receiving a an honorable discharge. He returned to Bartlesville and was employed by Phillips Petroleum. Co; at the Research and Development Center until the time of his death. He was an avid aviator and had been active as a flight instructor for a number of years and was a motorcycle enthusiast.

Survivors include a son, Damon Donald McMurtrie. of Bartlesville; a sister, Helen Jean Perry, of Oklahoma City; three brothers: his twin, Robert Dale (Mick) McMurtrie of Bartlesville, William D (Bill) McMurtrle Sr. of Bartlesville and Charles Paul McMurtrie of a Bartlesville; four nephews: Bill McMurtrle Jr. of Bartlesville, Robert C. McMurtrie of Bartlesville, Ian McMurtrle of Electra. Texas, and Chris McMurtrie of Electra, Texas; a niece. Julie McMurtrie of Electra, Texas; and four great-nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, James McMurtrie . The cause of pilot Donald McMurtrie's fatal crash at Frank Phillips field Saturday morning will probably not be released to the public for about six months, a source at the Local Flight Standards District Office out of Oklahoma City said Tuesday.

Crash Cause Unknown

By Chris Randolph, E-E Staff Reporter

The investigation will be handled. by the National Transportation Safety Board located in Denver, CO Arnold Scott, air safety investigator for the board, said the investigation into the cause of McMurtrie's crash remains incomplete and will take an indefinite amount of time to determine.

"I can't say how long it will take," Scott said. "It's still under investigation. We haven't determined the cause of the crash but didn't find anything wrong with the airplane or controls initially. After we disassembled it ,we'll have better idea of what happened." Airplane crash investigations typically take about-six months before they are made available to the public.

McMurtrie was flying a three-fourth scale British Spitfire experimental plane when, after experiencing mechanical problems with his landing gear, he crashed nose-first into the grass just west of the airport's south runway at about 9:45 Saturday moming. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

McMurtrie was an experienced pilot, having logged more than 8,000 hours flight time. He was certlfled by the Federal Aviation Association as an airline transport pilot and flight instructor with a second class medical certificate. He had one accident on record at Frank Phillips Field, occuring in April 1982 when, according to FAA records, "durlng (McMurtrie’s) initial climb on his flrst flight, the engine failed and the aircraft crashed off the airport."

McMurtrie was employed at Phillips Petroleum Co. in the research and development center as an electronics expert at the time of his death.