Wayne Allison was born in 1956 in Illinois, and joined the New Mexico State Police in November 1985. He was stationed in Gallup and after two years there he was transferred to the Aircraft Division in Santa Fe as a pilot. On the morning of February 13, 1988, at 3:34 a.m., Wayne departed from Santa Fe, flying a state police Cessna 337 Skymaster, bound for Carlsbad, New Mexico. Communication was established with air traffic controllers shortly after departure and there were no apparent problems. Approximately eight miles southeast of Galisteo, at about 4:00 a.m., for reasons unknown, the aircraft plummeted straight into the ground killing Wayne instantly. The National Transportation Safety Board conducted the investigation into the cause of the crash and ruled it to be indeterminable. Wayne was survived by his wife.