Procession honors Maine Warden who died in Tuesday plane crash
By Adam Bartow
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AUGUSTA, Maine (WMTW) — A procession was held Wednesday morning to escort the body of Maine Game Warden Joshua Tibbetts, who died in a plane crash in Avon on Tuesday. The procession was described as an honorable transfer.
The Augusta Fire Department said the procession started at about 9 a.m. on Hospital Street in Augusta. The procession then moved to Bangor Street, Riverside Drive, Route 3 and then continue north on Interstate 95.
Drivers were asked to allow space for the procession to pass by, but people were also encouraged to stand and salute on roads in Augusta as the procession passed by them.
The procession ended the Crosby Neal funeral home in Newport.
Waterville Fire-Rescue officials said that northbound on-ramps on the highway were closed to traffic during the procession, as well as the Trafton Road and Rice Rips Road overpasses. Once the procession has passed through Waterville, the roads and on-ramps were re-opened.
Drivers were asked to NOT stop along the highway to render salute.
Tibbetts, 50, was a Warden Service pilot. The crash happened at about 11 a.m. Tuesday near Schoolhouse Pond in Avon.
“We are heartbroken,” the DIFW said in a statement shared on social media. “This is a devastating loss for the Maine Warden Service, our Department, and the people of Maine. Our thoughts are with the family, loved ones, colleagues, and all those impacted by this tragedy.”
“I want to express my profound sadness for Warden Tibbetts’ loved ones who got that call today, a call no family should ever have to receive,” said Gov. Janet Mills. “I ask all Maine people to hold the Warden Service in our hearts, as we all grieve the loss of their colleague, and to express our deepest condolences to Warden Tibbetts’ family and friends who are enduring an unimaginable sorrow — and to recognize the risks that law enforcement officers take when they show up to work each day to protect public safety and to keep this state the best place in the nation, the safest place in the nation, to live, work and raise a family.”
What we know about the crash and incident response The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the Maine Warden Service plane involved in the crash was a Cessna 185F.
Tibbetts was the only person who was on board the plane at the time of the crash, officials said. Scott said Maine Warden Service pilots fly on their own most of the time and that Tibbetts was working with the Bureau of Fisheries to stock fish in the western part of the state.
A witness told Maine’s Total Coverage reporter Jackie Mundry that winds in the area were very strong at the time of the plane crash.
“You definitely could feel the wind and you could see the trees were bending,” the witness said. “[The plane] definitely looked like it was fighting against the wind and was not in very good control, because it was teetering back and forth and it was very, very low to the mountains.”
Scott said Warden Service planes automatically send out a signal in the event of a crash.
“That system did work and that’s what notified the dispatch center,” Scott said.
Once the Warden Service was notified about the crash from the Maine State Police dispatch center, Scott said two Warden Service planes were immediately dispatched to see if they could locate the crash site. Maine Forest Service helicopters also responded to assist in the search.
“There’s no immediate roads nearby and so the best way to locate it was from the air,” Scott said.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and FAA both confirmed they are investigating the plane crash. The FAA said the NTSB will be in charge of the investigation.
Game wardens told Mundry that Tibbetts’ body was removed from the crash site by helicopter. Mills said Tibbetts’ remains have been transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta.
Scott said FAA investigators based in the Maine area were traveling to the crash site Tuesday night. NTSB investigators arrived in Maine Wednesday morning, according to the agency.
What we know about the pilot Tibbetts began his career with the Maine Warden Service in 2008 and was promoted to game warden pilot in November 2023, according to a past Facebook post from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (DIFW).
At the time of his promotion, the DIFW said Tibbetts would serve northern Maine and be based out of Eagle Lake. He previously served in the department’s Downeast, Central and Southern Maine districts.
The DIFW said in his role as a pilot, Tibbetts’ specialized aviation work supported search and rescue, law enforcement, fisheries, wildlife conservation and public safety across the state. Before Tibbetts became a game warden pilot, he was part of the Incident Management Team and the search planning and unmanned aerial vehicle program. He also previously served as a drug recognition expert, according to the DIFW.
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