Three Dead

The investigation continued Tuesday into the Memorial Day crash of a Lancair IV-P near Vermontville Township (MI). All three people on board, including a noted Canadian biochemist, were killed.

WOOD-TV reports the aircraft crashed on the property of a former pilot, Roger Gardner, who said he witnessed the Lancair's final moments.

The Lancair, he said, appeared to have entered a flat spin seconds before impacting the ground. "He didn't have enough time to correct it...it happened so fast...it was over with...didn't last long," he told WOOD.

Robert Matheson was working in his barn near the crash site when he saw the plane flying overhead.

"I heard an engine race quite fast," he told reporters. "When I looked out, I saw the plane trying to go up farther in the air. The next thing I know, it fell below the trees."

The victims were identified as pilot Allen Ward, 52, of Ypsilanti (MI), 23-year old Jeffrey Chen, of Milford (MI) and Roger Hertz, 36, of Burlington, Ontario.

The Eaton County (MI) Sheriff's Office said the aircraft was on a flight from Ypsilanti to Billings (MT) when it went down at around 2:00 pm local time.

Ward's company, Ward Synthesis, was the registered owner of the aircraft. Ward was president of the company, which had been spun off from the University of Michigan. The company develops technology related to flat-screen video displays.

The Canadian passenger, Hertz, was the director of research and development for Thermo Electron. The company builds laboratory systems for pharmaceutical and biotech firms. Flags at Thermo's headquarters in Burlington, Ontario, flew at half-mast Tuesday.

"It was a definite shock to everybody here because he's been working for this company for 10 years plus, and he started his career here," said a company spokeswoman, who wouldn't give her name. "We saw him grow from being an engineer to going right up the ranks and leading the team."

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 707SH    Make/Model: LANC   Description: LANCAIR 4P
 Date: 05/31/2004   Time: 1800

 Event Type: Accident  Highest Injury: None   Mid Air: N  Missing: N
 Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
 City: GRAND RAPIDS        State: MI  Country: US

DESCRIPTION
 ACFT AFTER REPORTED UNABLE TO MAINTAIN ALTITUDE, CRASHED, THREE PERSONS ON
 BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED AND THE ACFT WAS DESTROYED, 20 SE OF GRAND
 RAPIDS, VERMONTVILLE, MI

INJURY DATA   Total Fatal:  0
         # Crew:  1  Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 
         # Pass:   2  Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 
         # Grnd:       Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 

WEATHER: GRR 311756Z 25024G29KT 10SM BKN028TCU BKN060 BKN160 21/13 A2943      
                                          
                            

OTHER DATA
 Activity: Unknown   Phase: Cruise   Operation: General Aviation

 Departed: YPSILANTI, MI        Dep Date: 05/31/2004  Dep. Time: 1730
 Destination: BILLINGS, MT       Flt Plan: IFR     Wx Briefing: Y
 Last Radio Cont: 20SE GRAND RAPIDS, MI
 Last Clearance: MAINTAIN 120 BY LAN

 FAA FSDO: GRAND RAPIDS, MI (GL09)       Entry date: 06/01/2004

FMI: www.ntsb.gov