23-Year-Old Flight Instructor, Hampton Alum, Dies in Plane Crash

Friends of the 23-year-old flight instructor who died in a plane crash in Virginia Oct. 6 commended her for pursuing her dream of becoming a commercial pilot, the New York Post reported.Viktoria Theresie Izabelle Ljungman

Viktoria Theresie Izabelle Ljungman died when an 18-year-old student pilot she was instructing, pulled the single-engine Cessna 172 up at too steep of an angle at takeoff, causing it to stall and plummet from about 100 feet.

Ljungman attended Hampton University and earned a pilot license in March 2021 and became a flight instructor in April 2022. A student athlete, she was recognized in 2021 as an Arthur Ashe Scholar in Diverse.

Ljungman’s graduating class at Hampton is organizing donations to her family, Mabry said.

The plane – it carried Ljungman, the student pilot Oluwagbohunmi Ayomide Oyebode, and another unidentified 18-year-old student – crashed around 3 p.m. in a ditch at Newport News-Williamsburg Airport. The two 18-year-olds, current Hampton students, were taken to hospitals with serious injuries.