Dead pilot was skilled at difficult landings

Paul Conner's last, deadly flight into a dense strip of forest near St. Elmo's small-craft airport on Monday wasn't his first time attempting to land a disabled airplane. It was just the first time he failed in the attempt, family members said Tuesday.

Conner, 56, was a former military flight instructor who was well-respected in the small aircraft community, they said. His first experiences in high-pressure landing were as a reconnaissance pilot, flying missions over hostile jungles during his two tours in Vietnam, getting pummeled by guns and explosives, Art Conner, Paul Conner's brother, said Tuesday.

Paul Conner had landed those planes safely time and again, sometimes with engines dead and wings riddled. "He flew so many aircraft, but this one just quit at the worst possible time, just after takeoff," said Art Conner, 58. "There was nothing he could do. He wasn't high enough. He couldn't find any safety."

Art Conner had been watching from the runway when his younger brother's experimental, rear-propellered aircraft crashed into a stand of trees just west of St. Elmo's R.P. Crigler Sr. Aeroplex on Monday afternoon. Deputies said he likely died instantly. No one else was traveling in the four-seater plane.

"I'm still in shock," he said. "Some brothers aren't close. I was very, very close to my brother."

Last year, each brother had finished building his own experimental aircraft -- Paul, an SQ2000, canard-style airplane with a Mazda rotary engine, and Art a gyrocopter. The two often worked together at their labor-heavy hobby, Art Conner said.

It was Paul's second homebuilt airplane, Art Conner said. His first was a Long-EZ, also a canard-style plane, which means it featured a forward, smaller set of wings roughly level with the cockpit.

"Ever since my brother was very young, he was into flying. I mainly did it because he liked to do it. He was the pilot in the family," Art Conner said. Their father was an Air Force mechanic, so the family moved often and the boys grew up in cities all over the world, he said.

"We lived in England, in Lake Charles Louisiana. Paul was born in Newfoundland," Art Conner said. After leaving the Army, Paul became a flight instructor with the Air National Guard.

Art said he settled in Mobile after retiring from the Coast Guard about seven years ago. Paul came to join him in the area after retiring from the Connecticut Air National Guard five years ago, he said.

Chatter about Paul Conner's death hit the small aircraft Web sites early Tuesday morning, when his wife Carol posted a message at canardaviationforum.dmt.net. She wrote: "Paul crashed yesterday afternoon and am told he died instantly. Our plane was doing so well... but for some reason the engine quit on takeoff at St. Elmo's. Please, everyone, fly safely."

The news was followed by a string of posts from people calling him a "pioneer," "enthusiastic," and by declarations that his technical knowledge and his years of experience will be missed by the aviation community.

John Slade, a pilot in West Palm Beach wrote that "Paul was a very good friend and a person for whom I had a great respect. He and Dan Crugar (of Mobile) flew over to West Palm to give me some flight experience last year. Paul was, without doubt, the best instructor I ever flew with and a truly skilled pilot. He will be missed."

On Slade's Web site, Canard Aviation Inc., Slade writes about a relatively recent incident in which Conner had suffered "a partial engine failure at 250 feet on takeoff in his rotary powered SQ2000 canard. He made it back to the field, but not the runway. Instead, he used a parking ramp and got the thing stopped in 472 feet. New tires, new underwear and he's good to go. Amazing."

Conner's deadly crash Monday is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.