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Plane in Saturday's crash was kit model on test run

By Christopher Schwarzen
Times Snohomish County bureau

The plane that crashed and killed two men north of Arlington on Saturday

a home-kit, amphibious model being test-flown by a Marysville pilot for
Federal Aviation Administration certification, investigators said

Tim Johnson, 65, was test-flying the single-engine plane for Fred Caron,

of Cave Junction, Ore., before it crashed about 30 minutes into their
flight, said Steve McCreary, the lead crash investigator for the National
Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) Seattle office. Both men were killed.

Although it will be weeks before the accident's cause is known, McCreary
said the two men took off from Paine Field in Everett, and then possibly
landed at Arlington Airport before taking off again.

The accident occurred about seven miles north of the Arlington Airport.
Witnesses on Saturday said it sounded as if the engine had cut out before
the Seawind plane began to nosedive. Although witnesses said it appeared

if Johnson was doing acrobatics with the plane, Mike Crowell, a flight
instructor for Mission Aviation Training Academy, of which Johnson was a
board member, said it likely was only Johnson trying to regain control of
the plane because of a mechanical problem.

"He was too precise, too cautious and didn't do stunts," Crowell said.
"People like Fred Caron came to Tim to test their planes for those exact
reasons."

Although the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office was not expected

release the identities of the victims until today, the NTSB yesterday
confirmed their names.

Johnson was a longtime missionary to indigenous tribes in South America,
said his wife, Bonita Johnson. Even when he wasn't helping spread the word
of God in the Brazilian jungles, he still was helping others.

"He had that serving thing all about him," Bonita Johnson said yesterday.
"He always wanted to fix things."

Johnson began flying during the 1960s for the Jungle Aviation and Radio
Service, the flying arm of the Wycliffe Bible Translators. A story on his
missionary flying was featured in the November issue of the Aircraft

and Pilots Association's trade magazine.

Sent to Peru and Brazil to fly translators and others, such as National
Geographic photographers, into the jungles of Xingu National Park, Johnson
became an ace at short runways and treacherous flying conditions.

"He was a crack missionary bush pilot," said Kirkland resident Mary

who knew the Johnsons while working as a missionary in Brasília, Brazil.

eventually returned to the States to work on a plane that would serve
missionaries better in Latin America and other countries."

Johnson, who logged more than 9,000 flying hours, never gave up his
missionary work, Bonita Johnson said. Although eventually he worked as a
consultant and test-pilot for Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, Johnson also
served as pastor of Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church of Bellevue.

"He always knew the dangers of flying, and we often talked about it,"

Johnson said. "But when you love someone, you relinquish them into God's
care and hope he'll take care of them."

Bonita Johnson, who was married to Johnson for 44 years, visited the crash
site with her children yesterday, returning only with his shoe, found

among the remaining debris.

"I took it, even though there was little left of it," she said. "The thing
is, I never could remember whether he wore a size 12 or 13, and now it

so much to me."

Caron, who had owned other planes, built the Seawind model during the past
10 years. Caron was introduced to Johnson as someone who could test-fly

plane by a mutual friend.

Caron, who was married to his wife, Lorraine, for 11 years, had two
children. Both are grown and married.

Christopher Schwarzen: 425-745-7811 or cschwarzen@seattletimes.com.

Copyright © 2002 The Seattle Times Company