Officials with the Wisconsin Air National Guard on Saturday identified an airman with the 115th Fighter Wing who was one of two people who died Feb. 16 in a civilian aviation crash.
Staff Sgt. Remington K. Viney, 26, was killed in the aircraft crash in Janesville, Wisconsin, at 9:18 a.m. CST Feb. 16, according to the wing’s Facebook page.
Local TV station Action 2 News previously reported that Viney was one of two people killed Tuesday during a plane crash in Rock County. Authorities identified the other victim as 25-year-old Tanner Byholm of Glidden, Wisconsin. Byholm was an Air Force reservist, according to an obituary posted online.
The twin-engine Velocity V-Twin crashed in a river near Janesville shortly after departing from the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The Velocity V-Twin “was designed to provide a safe and efficient transportation aircraft especially for those who fly at night, over mountains, over large bodies of water, serious IFR [Instrument Flight Rules] and those who just want the redundancy of a second engine to get them home or to an airport in the event of an engine failure,” according to Velocity, its Florida-based manufacturer.
The pair were headed to Florida, according to GazetteExtra.com.
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Viney, a Wisconsin resident, began her military journey with the Wisconsin Air National Guard in December 2013. She enlisted as a crew chief assigned to the 115th Fighter Wing and in 2018 she transitioned to command and control operations, working full-time in the command post.
A decorated veteran, Viney deployed overseas on several occasions, according to the wing’s Facebook page. In 2015, she deployed to Kadena Air Base, Japan, in 2017 to Kunsan AB, Korea, and finally stateside to Nellis Air Force Base in 2018 in support of the annual Red Flag exercise.
Viney earned her private pilot license and worked as a flight instructor, according to the wing’s Facebook page.
“Staff Sgt. Viney strove to progress and exceed in her life and her career,” it states. “She earned her baccalaureate degree in business administration and management marketing along with her associate degree in aircraft maintenance technology in 2017.
A graduate of Sun Prairie High School in 2012, Viney earned an associate degree in Tactical Aircraft Maintenance and then received a bachelor of business administration degree from UW-Madison in 2017, according to her obituary.
“Remington was passionate about any adventure that life had to offer,” according to her obituary. She obtained her pilot license in high school. While in college, she was the captain of the Wisconsin Flying Team. Additionally, she was a founding member of the Women in Aviation, Madison chapter.
During her service in the Air Guard, “she met the love of her life, fellow service member Kyle Henry,” according to her obituary. “They shared so much together including her passion for real estate, flying and raising her future stepson, Kellan. Above all else, her family was the anchor of her life and she was so excited for her future with her fiancée, Kyle.”
Viney was a Certified Flight Instructor who, on her LInkedIn page, wrote she was “focused on providing personalized instruction to each of my students, tailoring my teaching to their unique learning style.”
“I work full time as a flight instructor at Pilotsmith/ CAVU, traveling between all three Wisconsin locations — Appleton, Green Bay, and Manitowoc.”
Byholm served six years in the Marine Corps Reserve before joining the Air Force Reserve, where he was selected to be an A-10 pilot, according to the obituary.
This was the second fatal aviation mishap involving a 115th Fighter Wing in the past two months.
Wisconsin Air National Guard Capt. Durwood “Hawk” Jones, 37, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, lost his life when his F-16 crashed in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Dec. 8, according to a post on the wing’s Facebook page.
Jones joined the Air National Guard in 2011 and graduated from F-16 basic qualification training in 2015, according to the post. He is a decorated combat veteran, deploying as a part of a United States Pacific Command theater support package to Japan in 2015 and to Korea in 2017. He deployed again in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel to Afghanistan in 2019.
Howard Altman is an award-winning editor and reporter who was previously the military reporter for the Tampa Bay Times and before that the Tampa Tribune, where he covered USCENTCOM, USSOCOM and SOF writ large among many other topics.
