A Shannon Tan story in The Indianapolis Star said, "The tail section of the experimental aircraft fell off, said James King of the Federal Aviation Administration. It's not clear whether that led to the accident, authorities said." [Note: the design reportedly was a canard --ed.]
Perhaps more miraculously, the story continued, "The tail section was found in a wooded area north of the crash site."
Mr. Drybread left the airplane before impact, reports say. There is no word on whether he was wearing a parachute and left on purpose, or whether the violence of the in-flight breakup simply ejected him.
Our prayers go out to his family, and our sympathies, to his friends.

** Report created 05/24/2002 Record 2 **
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 827CM Make/Model: EXP Description: EXP- MS RYAN SPECIAL
Date: 05/23/2002 Time: 2005
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
City: TERRE HAUTE State: IN Country: US
DESCRIPTION
EXPERIMENTAL ACFT TOOK OFF FOR A LOCAL FLIGHT AND 2 MILES SOUTH OF THE ARPT, A SECTION OF A WING SEPARATED FROM THE ACFT, THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL, THE ACFT WENT INTO A NOSE DIVE AND CRASHED IN A FARM FIELD, THE PILOT/SOLE OCCUPANT SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES, THE ACFT WAS DESTROYED, TERRE HAUTE, IN.
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1
# Crew: 1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
WEATHER: CLEAR VSBY10+SM 220@16KTSG20KTS
OTHER DATA
Activity: Pleasure Phase: Take-off Operation: General Aviation
Departed: TERRE HAUTE, IN Dep Date: 05/23/2002 Dep. Time:
Destination: TERRE HAUTE, IN Flt Plan: NONE Wx Briefing: U
Last Radio Cont: ANDERSON TWR
Last Clearance: NONE
FAA FSDO: INDIANAPOLIS, IN (GL11) Entry date: 05/24/2002