<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<--->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
          <<  Lancair Builders' Mail List  >>
          <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<--->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>
It is with great sadness to report the death of two people in the crash of
a Lancair Columbia 300 late last night. The entire news story may be viewed
at: http://www.koin.com/news/stories/news-990109-161653.html

Contrary to the news report, it was not a "routine landing". There was
dense fog and visability was reported at 1/4 mile, plus it was dark. They
had diverted from landing at Aurora State because of the weather.


Here is some of the text from that story......

PORTLAND, Posted 1:11 p.m. January 9, 1999 -- The search for parts of a
kit plane that crashed in the Columbia River and its two occupants will
go on Sunday, after today's search yielded no significant clues.

Pilot Hans Oesch, 39, of Bend and his passenger, Kimberly Kelley, 20, of
Portland were making a routine landing approach at Portland International
Airport at 6:00 p.m. Friday night. The Lancair Columbia 300 single-engine
plane was about a mile and a half away from the runway when it made a
sudden turn toward the river and disappeared from the control tower's
radar screen.

Searchers from the Multnomah Co. sheriff's office, along with the Coast
Guard, are concentrating their search about a quarter of a mile east
of the 42nd St. boat ramp on Marine Drive in north Portland, says Multnomah
Co. Lt. Brian Martinek.  

"We got together with the guys from the control tower and  from their
calculations, narrowed it down to that area. They'll go out in our boats
tomorrow (Sunday) with side sonar, a sonar system with more  sensitivity to
the sonar we've used today. We are confident that we'll find  something
tomorrow. But when the bodies will be recovered is anyone's guess,"
Martinek tells Channel 6000.

Martinek says large parts of the tail and the fuselage, plus some other
small pieces, have already been recovered. The wings, cockpit and
the engine, which could give investigators an answer to why the
experimental plane went down, are still missing and presumed  to be near
the boat ramp.

"Fog probably had something to do with (the accident).   Usually, with
a crash like this, you hear a million theories, but I haven't heard
one," Martinek tells Channel 6000.

The Federal Aviation Administration is conducting an investigation
into the cause of the accident. The Lancair was owned by Pacific
Aviation Composites of Bend, the company that made it, said Doug Roberts,
aviation spokesman for the Port of Portland, reported The Associated
Press. Oesch was a company employee, according to KOIN 6 News.
 
Terry Pickering                          CompuGroup, Inc.
pickering@myself.com                     Portland, Oregon USA
www.teleport.com/~compugrp               Cessna 172 & Lancair ES