Witness Say Plane Spinning Before Impact

Investigators are heading to the scene of a plane crash in western Oregon, that claimed the lives of three men Friday morning.

The aircraft -- identified as N329BW, a homebuilt four-place Lancair ES (file photo of type shown below) -- took off from Salem at 0955 local time, and was heading south on an IFR flight plan to Klamath Falls, according to FAA Northwest Region spokesman Mike Fergus.

Air traffic controllers saw the plane disappear from radar approximately 20 minutes later, with the last recording echo showing the aircraft at 13,000 feet. The crash was reported at 1019 local time.

Witnesses said they saw the aircraft "in a spin, out of control" as it fell towards a field near Albany, OR, Linn County Sheriff Tim Mueller told The Associated Press.
"There's no indication that it tried to land or skidded. It looks like it just hit where it hit," he said.

Late Friday, the sheriff's office identified the victims as Jay Lamb, 49; Steven Teeny, 36; and Riley Bunn, 32. Lamb was the plane's owner, and is believed to have been flying the men to a hunting convention in Utah.

FMI: www.faa.gov