Medical Examiner's Office identifies passenger in fatal crash (UPDATED with PHOTO GALLERIES)

NOON Update: The First Judicial Circuit Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed the identify of the passenger in Saturday's fatal crash.

Margaret "Peggy" Zeiger, who was 52, was flying with her husband Saturday afternoon near Topsail Hill Preserve State Park when his North American AT-6 Texan went down in the Gulf of Mexico.

Herbert Evan Zeiger, a neurosurgeon from the Birmingham area, was identified that same day. His wife had suffered more traumatic injuries and the office needed more information in order to make a positive identification.

UPDATE 9 AM: A death notice has been published in the Birmingham News for Herman Evan Zeiger and his wife, Margaret Shook Zeiger, despite the fact that authorities have not yet confirmed her death.

The passenger in Saturday's crash of an AT-6 Texan remains officially unidentified, according to authorities.

Friends of the couple say that his wife, Peggy, was in the plane with him.

A celebration of their lives is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday, according to their obituary.

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The investigation of Saturday’s fatal plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico will continue in Georgia.

Atlanta Air Recovery on Monday pulled the wreckage of the North American AT-6 Texan up from about 65 feet of water about a half-mile off Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. The company hauled the plane to The Boat Marina in Fort Walton Beach before trucking it to its facility in Griffin, Ga., 40 miles south of Atlanta on Tuesday.

Atlanta Air Recovery borrowed a barge from The Boat, said recovery manager Todd Thaxton.

“Our divers went down and hooked to the aircraft parts — in its pieces — and hauled it up in our crane,” Thaxton said.

The debris was taken by barge to the marina and then trucked to the company’s property, where investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will inspect it. The NTSB plans to release a preliminary report on the cause of the crash next week.

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To see photos of the plane after it was recovered, click here.

To see photos of the formation flying moments before the crash, click here.

Click to view a photo gallery of the crash scene »

To read a fellow pilot recalling the accident, click here.

To read a story about the victim, click here.

To read the original crash story, click here.

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The crash killed neurosurgeon Herman Evan Zeiger Jr. of Birmingham, Ala., and his wife Peggy, according to family friend Joe Carnley of Destin.

Authorities could not confirm the identity of the plane’s woman passenger Tuesday. The medical examiner’s office was still waiting for records to identify the body, said Walton County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mike Gurspan.

Zeiger was flying his World War II-era trainer plane with four other aircraft on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Philip McDonald, a witness, said he saw Zeiger’s plane doing “acrobatics.” He said he saw it come out of a loop and crash into the water at high speed.

Following the crash, some Destin residents voiced their objections to the group’s flying practices. Bill Padawer, who said he saw the five planes take off from Destin Airport about 11:45 a.m. Saturday, said the planes frequently fly low and perform stunts over nearby neighborhoods.

Padawer also said the planes took off two at a time. He said he thought the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited that procedure.

But FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said planes are allowed to take off that way. She also said that performing stunts, or “aerobatics,” is allowed as long as it’s done over unpopulated areas or in specially designated zones.

“Doing aerobatics over the water is fine, as is flying in formation,” Bergen said.

Aerobatic flight also must be done at a minimum altitude of 1,500 feet. If pilots violate regulations, they could lose their flying certificate.