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Folsom Doctor Killed In Single-Plane Crash Amid Foggy Conditions In Humboldt County

GARBERVILLE (CBS13) — A Folsom doctor with decades of experience is being remembered after losing his life in a plane crash on Friday morning in Humboldt County in foggy conditions.

Dr. Douglas Pleatman, 59, is a very well-known doctor in the area and owned an urgent care center for several years. Before that, he spent 23 years as an emergency room physician at Mercy Folsom Hospital.

Employees of the urgent care center like medical assistant Lenni Parsons are still in shock over the sudden death of their boss.

"We are family and we are just so upset about what's happened," she said. "We walked into work today and we were told and we are just devastated, completely."

A sign on the front door of the urgent care center said it was closed due to an emergency.

Pleatman died on Friday morning when investigators say his single-engine Piper PA24 plane crashed in rainy and foggy conditions near Garberville.

Witnesses report not hearing an engine, but seeing his plane wing hit a tree before crashing to the ground and into the Eel River.

"He was just a wonderful employer and a wonderful doctor. and the thing is, not only because he was a good doctor and he was knowledgeable, but he truly cared and we are going to miss him very much," Parsons said. "It won't be the same now."

People who knew the doctor say he was well known in the area and flew his plane to Garberville every month to work as an emergency room physician at a local hospital there.

Besides being an accomplished doctor, Pleatman was known as an avid flier and skydiver, which has coworkers like Lenni Parsons searching for answers as to what went wrong.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Traffic Safety Board will be back out at the scene on Saturday. The exact cause of the crash is unknown.

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