Spotted By Another Aircraft Near Falcon Field

Two people were killed Monday when their 1942 Stearman went down about seven miles north of Mesa's Falcon Field. As of ANN's deadline on Tuesday, authorities in Arizona had not yet identified the victims. Local news reports, however, identified the victims as a Mesa man and his stepfather.

Other reports indicated that the Boeing Stearman B75N1 (file photo of type, below) was part of a six-ship formation flying over several Memorial Day observances.

The wreckage was spotted by another pilot flying north of Mesa, according to the East Valley Tribune. The pilot reported the wreckage to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office at around 9:10 am local time, about 15 minutes after the Stearman went down. At first, the pilot reportedly thought the column of smoke he was staring at was a house fire.

"He thought it might be a residence," said FAA operations officer Bruce Nelson. "When he flew over, he determined it was an airplane. He orbited overhead until law enforcement got there."

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 48579    Make/Model: B75N   Description: BOEING STEARMAN B75N1
 Date: 05/31/2004   Time: 1605

 Event Type: Accident  Highest Injury: Fatal   Mid Air: N  Missing: N
 Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
 City: MESA            State: AZ  Country: US

DESCRIPTION
 ACFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, TWO PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY
 INJURED AND THE ACFT WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE, 7 MILES NORTH OF FALCON FIELD,
 905PDT, MESA, AZ

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

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED                               
                                          
                            

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

 Departed: UNK             Dep Date:  Dep. Time:  
 Destination: UNK           Flt Plan: UNK     Wx Briefing: U
 Last Radio Cont: UNK
 Last Clearance: UNK

 FAA FSDO: SCOTTSDALE, AZ (WP07)        Entry date: 06/01/2004

FMI: www.ntsb.gov