When FAA’s Henry (Hank) Krakowski Helped Get Keith J. Evans Killed: How The Press Reported It (Part II)

Pilot Known As A Giving Spirit Generosity Surpassed Only By Love Of Flying, Friends Say
Chicago Daily Herald
October 3, 1999, Sunday, Cook,Fox Valley,D3
Paddock Publications, Inc.
Chicago Daily Herald
October 3, 1999, Sunday, Cook,Fox Valley,D3
SECTION: News; Pg. 10
LENGTH: 660 words
HEADLINE: Pilot known as a giving spirit Generosity surpassed only by love of flying, friends say
BYLINE: David R. Kazak Daily Herald Staff Writer

BODY: Young Wheaton resident Jonathan Braga knew the man he wanted as a mentor for his confirmation at St. Andrew’s Church of Christ had other plans.

Keith Evans had already been a sponsor for so many other children at the church. But he had just retired from his job piloting DC-10s for United Airlines and was planning to do some traveling.

The 14-year-old Jonathan asked him anyway. Evans couldn’t, or maybe he wouldn’t, say no.

And he didn’t.

True to his nature, Evans jumped full into the boy’s life, taking his young protege to O’Hare International Airport’s control tower for a tour, or golfing, or showing up at the boy’s wrestling matches.

Jonathan’s mother, Lauri, said her son was having a rough go of it in eighth grade, and Evans knew it. He encouraged and pushed for success.

Now in high school, Jonathan’s life has turned around. And one day after his mentor’s tragic death in a remote Kendall County cornfield, Lauri Braga knows where the thanks belongs.

“I attribute it all to him”, she said.

Evans, 61, died Friday while practicing formation flying with Lima Lima, the popular Naperville-based flying troupe.

The T-34 Mentor he was flying clipped wings with another plane. Evan’s craft crashed shortly before 4 p.m. Friday in a Kendall County cornfield.

Like his involvement with Jonathan, Evan’s eight-month involvement with the precision flying team was something that needed no coaxing.

“He was friends with them”, said his wife, Barbara Evans. “One said ‘Come, let me take you for a ride.’

“He was hooked”, she said.

Neighbor and friend Vincent Spedale said that shortly after Evans started flying with Lima Lima, a new excitement appeared in the veteran pilot’s eyes.

“You’d think after flying with United for so many years, he would have given it up”, Spedale said. “But he was so excited. He would explain all about the planes. Tell us how (stunts) were done.

“And he was excited about going to all the shows”, he added.

Twenty-five years ago, Evans and Spedale built their Wheaton homes just months apart, and the two have been friends ever since.

Spedale remembers the meticulous way Evans kept watch over the lawn, and his help around the neighborhood.

Evans was a man who never had to be persuaded for a favor. Snow needed to be cleared from the walk? Evans did it. Need to borrow a tool? Evans had it.

“He was so generous”, Spedale’s wife, Joan, said.

Spedale said Evans was also a perfectionist, never leaving anything to chance.

Evans began his flying career as a fighter pilot in the Air Force in 1960 after graduating from DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.

For three tours in Vietnam, Capt. Evans flew F-100 fighter jets. United Airlines snatched him up as soon as he left the military in 1965.

While Evan’s spent much of the past 30 years in the air, his heart was never far from the ground. He helped found Wheaton Youth Outreach, a program that helps at-risk adolescents.

Active in his church, St. Matthew’s Church of Christ, he also was in the process of starting a scholarship fund for his college fraternity, Delta Tau Delta, before he died.

When neighbor Kurt Kleinschmidt moved to the Shady Lane cul-de-sac neighborhood three years ago, Evans made him feel welcome.

“He was always listening to you, or talking to you”, Kleinschmidt said. “If we were working in the yard, he’d come over to say hi”.

For Spedale, once the shock of his friend’s death passed, another feeling came.

“You really learn the definition of sad when this kind of thing happens”, he said.

Evans is survived by wife Barbara; son Bill Evans, and daughter Kathy Lahr; stepchildren Leigh Anne Statton and Amy Westrich; and six grandchildren.

Services for Evans will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Matthew United Church of Christ, 1420 S. Gables Blvd. in Wheaton.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Keith J. Evans Fund in care of St. Matthew.

GRAPHIC: Keith Evans limafolo-2ne100299unk Pilot Keith Evans, left, became 14-year-old Jonathan Braga’s mentor and Confirmation sponsor. Evans took the Wheaton teen golfing, encouraged him to study and cheered him on at wrestling matches. Photo courtesy of Lauri Braga

LOAD-DATE: October 5, 1999

Wreckage Collected From Field
Chicago Daily Herald
October 3, 1999, Sunday, M1,Lake,DuPage,Cook,Fox Valley
Paddock Publications, Inc.
Chicago Daily Herald
October 3, 1999, Sunday, M1,Lake,DuPage,Cook,Fox Valley
SECTION: News; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 639 words
HEADLINE: Wreckage collected from field
BYLINE: Stacy St. Clair and Kevin Barrett Daily Herald Staff Writers

BODY: The charred remains of a once proud Lima Lima warbird were hauled from a muddy Kendall County cornfield Saturday, giving onlookers a glimpse of the crash’s horrific impact.

Only the plane’s fuselage and tail appeared recognizable as investigators loaded the wreckage onto a flatbed truck. The rest of the Beech T-34 Mentor shattered Friday afternoon as it augured into the ground about five miles south of Oswego.

Wheaton pilot Keith Evans, 61, died in the crash. He joined the Naperville-based Lima Lima Flight Team, an internationally renowned stunt flying team, about eight months ago.

The single-engine plane’s remains were taken to Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove, where investigators will piece together the events that led to the first fatal accident in Lima Lima’s 24-year history.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigator said the plane will be reassembled during the coming weeks. He would not speculate on the cause of the crash.

“My concern right now was, with the (rainy Saturday) weather, trying to preserve (the evidence)”, NTSB investigator Mitch Gallo said.

Authorities and witnesses say Evan’s plane touched wings with another Lima Lima aircraft as the six-member team practiced a diamond formation. A team spokesman described the exercise as a “routine and often-performed maneuver”.

The collision caused Evan’s plane to nose-dive into the cornfield, where it burst into flames upon impact.

The other aircraft flew to Aurora Municipal Airport. It has since been impounded by federal investigators.

That plane shows signs of damage, Gallo said. A 2- to 3-foot section of its left wing is bent down and shows signs of scrapings from another red and blue plane, he said.

“They were streaking diagonally across the bent section”, he said.

The familiar bright yellow Lima Lima planes also have red and blue paint.

Authorities and team members refused to identify the surviving pilot. Federal Aviation Administration records show the plane is registered to Lima Lima founder Gene Martin, a Naperville resident who retired from the team in 1996.

Gallo said the physical evidence will be combined with eyewitness accounts from the ground and the pilots to determine a cause. The investigation could take a year.

Officials have contacted Lima Lima members who were in the air Friday to set up interviews. The team huddled Saturday at its home base in Naperville’s Aero Estates - an exclusive subdivision with airplane runways for all its private pilots.

Several members placed messages on their home and work voice mails telling worried callers that they were unharmed in the accident. They also asked for well-wishers to pray for the Evans family.

“We’re just trying to gain our composure”, said team member and spokesman John Rippinger, who was not flying in Friday’s practice.

Fans of the popular stunt team also are struggling with their emotions. Mourners placed flowers and balloons outside the airport clubhouse Saturday, while others slipped cards under the door.

Naperville Mayor George Pradel and Police Chief David Dial drove to the accident scene Friday evening out of respect and concern for the city’s much-loved precision flying troupe.

“It’s kind of awesome to see them fly over”, Pradel said of the city’s aero-ambassadors. “I am proud of them wherever they go”. GRAPHIC: Fatal crashes

DuPage area pilots killed this year:

- Richard Buschmann, 48, of Naperville, killed June 1 when his American Airlines commercial airliner skids off runway in Little Rock, Ark.

- Rodney Kenslow, 47, of Naperville, killed July 19 when his private plane crashes into Kendall County cornfield.

- Keith J. Evans, 61, of Wheaton, killed Friday when his single-engine plane crashes into a Kendall County cornfield during a Lima Lima practice.

GRAPHIC: LIMAlemafollo-ne1002oswpm Oswego Fire Chief Brad Smith helps secure the wreckage Saturday morning after investigators pulled the remains of the Lima Lima plane from a muddy Kendall County field. Daily Herald Photo/Paul Michna GRAPHIC: (text at bottom of article) GRAPHIC/MAP: Site of plane crash/Kendall County

LOAD-DATE: October 5, 1999
Deseret News (Salt Lake City) October 3, 1999, Sunday
The Deseret News Publishing Co.
Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
October 3, 1999, Sunday
SECTION: WIRE; Pg. A13
LENGTH: 983 words
HEADLINE: News capsules

BODY:
Pilot killed when small plane crashes after wings touch

OSWEGO, Ill. (AP) -- A small air show plane apparently touched wings with another plane during practice maneuvers and crashed into a cornfield, killing the pilot, authorities said.

Pilot Keith J. Evans, 61, was killed Friday when the plane crashed and burst into flames about 40 miles west of Chicago, said Kendall County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Rich Herron.

Herron said witnesses reported the planes touched in the air shortly after 3:30 p.m. The other plane was damaged but landed safely at nearby Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove. That pilot was unharmed.

The two aircraft were among six T-34 Mentors practicing maneuvers from the Lima Lima Flight Team, based in Naperville.

LOAD-DATE: October 3, 1999

Illinois Briefs
Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA)
October 3, 1999, Sunday
Telegraph-Herald
Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA)
October 3, 1999, Sunday
SECTION: Illinois; Pg. a 16
LENGTH: 586 words
HEADLINE: Illinois Briefs
BYLINE: Associated Press

BODY:
Dead stunt pilot identified

OSWEGO - The stunt pilot killed when his plane crashed into a Kendall County corn field has been identified as a 61-year-old Wheaton man.

Officials say Keith J. Evans, a retired United Airlines pilot and fighter pilot in Vietnam, crashed Friday afternoon. They say the crash happened after Evans’ plane collided with another plane as the Lima Lima Flight Team practiced maneuvers.

The other plane was damaged but landed safely in nearby Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove, officials said.


Fatal Crash In An Illinois Cornfield
(WILD ART) The Washington Times
October 03, 1999, Sunday, Final Edition
The Washington Times LLC
The Washington Times
October 03, 1999, Sunday, Final Edition
SECTION: PART C; NATION; Pg. C11
LENGTH: 49 words

HEADLINE: Fatal crash in an Illinois cornfield;
(WILD ART)

BODY:
Wreckage from a T-34 Mentor World War II plane from the Lima Lima air show blemishes a field 40 miles west of Chicago. The pilot, Keith J. Evans, 61, was killed after his plane’s wing touched that of another T-34, causing it to crash. The other plane landed safely; its pilot was unhurt.

GRAPHIC: Photo, (WILD ART), By AP

LOAD-DATE: October 3, 1999


PILOT KEITH J. EVANS, 61, OF WHEATON
Chicago Tribune
October 3, 1999 Sunday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION
Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
October 3, 1999 Sunday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION
SECTION: METRO CHICAGO; Pg. 8; ZONE: C
LENGTH: 314 words
HEADLINE: PILOT KEITH J. EVANS, 61, OF WHEATON
BYLINE: By Bechetta Jackson, Tribune Staff Writer.

BODY:
Keith J. Evans, a former military captain and commercial airline pilot and a new member of the popular Lima Lima Flight Team, died Friday when the plane he was piloting during a practice routine crashed in unincorporated Kendall County near Oswego. He was 61.

Mr. Evans had been a member of the most-viewed civilian flight team in the nation for less than a year.

A longtime Wheaton resident, he was born in Chicago and reared in suburban Riverside. At Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Mr. Evans was a standout fullback on the football team. In 1956 he was named to the All-Conference Team by the West Suburban Conference.

After high school, Mr. Evans attended DePauw University in Green Castle, Ind., where he continued to play football and joined Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He was working to develop a scholarship program for young people in the service fraternity when he died, said his wife, Barbara.

Mr. Evans was in the Air Force from 1960 to 1965--serving three tours of duty in Vietnam, where he flew missions in F-100 fighter planes. He ended his military career as a captain, his wife said.

While working as a pilot for United Airlines, Mr. Evans completed his master’s degree at the Jane Addams College of Social Work. He stayed with United for 33 years before retiring in 1998.

He was an active member of St. Matthew United Church of Christ in Wheaton, serving on the church council, teaching Sunday school and sponsoring young people in their confirmation classes, his family said. Mr. Evans was also a founding member of the Wheaton Youth Outreach Program.

In addition to his wife, survivors include a son, William; a daughter, Kathleen Lahr; two stepdaughters, Leigh Anne Statton and Amy Westrich; and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Matthew United Church of Christ, 1420 S. Gables Blvd., Wheaton.

LOAD-DATE: October 3, 1999
COMMUNITY, AIR TEAM MOURN LOSS OF PILOT
Chicago Tribune
October 3, 1999 Sunday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION
Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
October 3, 1999 Sunday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION
SECTION: METRO CHICAGO; Pg. 5; ZONE: C
LENGTH: 700 words
HEADLINE: COMMUNITY, AIR TEAM MOURN LOSS OF PILOT
BYLINE: By Jeff Coen and Bechetta Jackson, Tribune Staff Writers.

BODY:
Keith J. Evans, a former military flier and recently retired commercial jet pilot, had flown with the elite Lima Lima Flight Team for less than a year when he died in the cockpit of his show plane Friday.

On Saturday Lima Lima pilots remembered their newest team member and tried to figure out how a routine maneuver suddenly went wrong, while investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board collected the remaining pieces of Evans’ T-34 Mentor plane from a Kendall County cornfield near Oswego.

The plane went down in a fiery crash Friday afternoon after colliding with a second plane during a non-aerobatic maneuver involving six planes in tight formation. The second plane sustained damage but its pilot walked away unharmed, investigators said.

“Keith was a well-seasoned pilot with more than 20,000 hours of flight time”, team member John Rippinger said. Evans, 61, of Wheaton flew F-100 fighter jets while serving three tours of duty in Vietnam and later piloted DC-10 jumbo jets during a 33-year career with United Airlines.

“He worked very hard to get up to speed with the team and had attended every air show this year”.

The Naperville-based civilian flight team will rely on NTSB investigators to determine the cause of the crash, Rippinger said.

“We have no answers at this time”, he said Saturday. “We’re as anxious as anyone to know what happened. We need their help and they need ours”.

Bob Handschiegel, regional operations officer with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Great Lakes Regional Office, said it will be months before investigators determine the cause of the crash that occurred after the two planes touched.

The type of formation that apparently led to disaster Friday looks smooth when observed from the ground, fliers say, but it’s a different story when seen through the glass canopy of one of Lima Lima’s planes. Witnesses and team representatives have said Lima Lima was either in its signature arrowhead formation or splitting out of the arrowhead when the accident took place.

As the wedge of six T-34s cuts through the air, the lead pilot is often the only flier with his eyes facing forward. His five counterparts stare at predetermined marks on the aircraft nearest them to hold their plane in place, a practiced technique that keeps the pack of aircraft just a few feet apart.

Keeping the formation stable requires hundreds of split-second corrections and adjustments behind the leader, the pilots have said.

NTSB investigators, assisted by members of the FAA, stayed at the scene for most of Saturday, documenting the position of the plane when it crashed, taking photos of the scene and interviewing witnesses and the Lima Lima pilots. The wreckage was taken to a nearby hangar for further examination.

The crash investigation likely will be complicated by the fact that it was a midair collision, Handschiegel said.

“There are a lot of things that have to be pieced together before we can draw any conclusions”, Handschiegel said. “At this point it could have been anything”.

Team members have received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails from all over the country since the crash, Rippinger said.

“It’s incredible”, he said. “We knew we had a lot of friends, but this is overwhelming. Everyone’s just shocked by this”.

Team members remembered Evans as a dedicated family man and valuable team player. “He would do anything it took to help the team out”, Rippinger said.

“We understand the seriousness of what we do. It has to be a passion for all of us. But on the ground you have to have a good sense of humor too. That’s the nature of our team”.

“It just makes my heart hurt to think about this”, said Kevin Brady, a Naperville resident who lives in a subdivision across the street from the Aero Estates airport, the squad’s home base. Brady often watched the flight team perform and once flew along with squad members during a practice.

“They were great in the community. They really believed in what they were doing and everybody recognized them”.

At some point, Rippinger said, the team will return to fly “the world’s greatest air shows”. Meanwhile, he is encouraging fans to pray for Evans and his family.

GRAPHIC: PHOTOS 2PHOTO: Keith J. Evans.; ; PHOTO: Investigators study the cornfield south of Oswego, where the demolished plane lies under a tarp. Keith J. Evans was killed in the crash. Tribune photo by Phil Greer.

LOAD-DATE: October 3, 1999

Air Show Plane Crashes, Kills Pilot
The Associated Press October 2, 1999, Saturday, PM cycle
Associated Press
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The Associated Press
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October 2, 1999, Saturday, PM cycle
SECTION: Domestic News
LENGTH: 150 words
HEADLINE: Air show plane crashes, kills pilot
DATELINE: OSWEGO, Ill.

BODY:
A small air show plane apparently touched wings with another plane during practice maneuvers and crashed into a cornfield, killing the pilot, authorities said.

Pilot Keith J. Evans, 61, was killed Friday when the plane crashed and burst into flames about 40 miles west of Chicago, said Kendall County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Rich Herron.

Herron said witnesses reported the planes touched in the air shortly after 3:30 p.m. The other plane was damaged but landed safely at nearby Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove. That pilot was unharmed.

The two aircraft were among six T-34 Mentors practicing maneuvers from the Lima Lima Flight Team, based in Naperville. The two-seat, yellow World War II trainers have been popular fixtures at the annual Chicago Air and Water Show.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, Herron said.

LOAD-DATE: October 2, 1999
Crash Kills Naperville Stunt Pilot; Lima Lima Planes Touch Wings
Chicago Sun-Times October 02, 1999, SATURDAY, Late Sports Final Edition
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Chicago Sun-Times
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October 02, 1999, SATURDAY, Late Sports Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 621 words
HEADLINE: Crash kills Naperville stunt pilot;
Lima Lima planes touch wings
SOURCE: AL PODGORSKI; WTTW-CHANNEL 11
BYLINE: BY LUCIO GUERRERO AND STEPHANIE ZIMMERMANN

BODY:
Two planes from a Naperville stunt team that wows millions at the Chicago Air and Water Show each year collided over a Kendall County cornfield Friday, killing one of the pilots.

It was the first accident in the history of the Lima Lima Flight Team and occurred as six T-34 planes were practicing maneuvers near Oswego about 4 p.m. The wings of two planes touched, apparently causing one of the pilots to lose control, authorities said.

The other plane was damaged but landed safely at nearby Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove. The pilot was unharmed.

“We’re trying to come up with a reason”, one team member said Friday night, asking not to be identified. “We pride ourselves on our professionalism”.

The dead pilot was identified as Keith J. Evans, 61, of Wheaton, who had been with the team for about a year after retiring from United Airlines. Evans had been a fighter pilot in Vietnam and was a captain of DC-10 jumbo jets when he retired from United after 40 years.

“He was a very accomplished pilot”, the team member said.

Evans and the other pilots had been practicing to perform at Navy Pier later Friday for a retirement party for a United Airlines executive, said Katie Gretz, the daughter of 15-year Lima Lima pilot Rick Gretz, who was not involved in the accident.

The mood was grim at the party for Capt. Hart Langer, who is retiring as a pilot and a senior vice president of United after more than 30 years in the airline industry. About 140 people quietly gathered on the roof of the rotunda at the pier.

The accident occurred as six of the team’s vintage planes were flying close together, a witness said.

“They were coming in in a tight formation, and they started to peel off, one by one”, said Robert Rickert, who was watching from his kitchen window. “All was going really well until one of the last planes must have hit another one, because its wings went vertical, it rolled over and went straight down”.

Rickert at first thought the move was part of the exercise, “but when I saw it go down past the trees and saw the smoke, I knew something went wrong”.

The fire from the downed plane burned a wide swath in the cornfield, and members of the Oswego Fire Department spent more than an hour dousing the flames. No one on the ground was injured.

The planes were flying without navigation equipment and no other air traffic was in the area at the time of the collision, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating.

The Lima Lima team is nationally recognized as one of the premiere stunt flying teams, performing regularly at air shows across the country, and it is a regular feature at the Chicago Air and Water Show.

The team’s T-34s -- two-seat military trainers -- have routinely practiced in rural Kendall County, where there is plenty of room and little air traffic. The planes were built in the early 1950s to train Navy and Air Force pilots. Only about 200 exist in civilian hands today.

Earlier this year, the FAA restricted how fast the planes could fly and how much force the pilots could put on them after a T-34 broke up over Georgia during mock combat.

The restrictions limited the team’s routine at this summer’s Chicago Air and Water Show.

But one team member said Friday night that “there’s no connection” between Friday’s accident and the one in Georgia. He said the team’s next show is to be later this month in Little Rock, Ark., but he did not know whether it would go on as planned.

“We’ve lost a good friend and a teammate”, he said, adding that flying was a big part of Evans’ life. “It’s not a hobby, it’s not a career. It’s a passion”.

Contributing: Art Golab, Dan Rozek, Bob Kurson

GRAPHIC: Members of the Lima Lima Flight Team pilot their vintage T-34 planes in formation over Lake Michigan just off the lakefront during the Chicago Air and Water Show in August. The wings of two of the team’s planes touched Friday, resulting in a fatal crash in Kendall County. Keith J. Evans, the retired United pilot who died in Friday’s crash, had been with the Lima Lima Flight Team for about a year. MAP; See roll microfilm.

LOAD-DATE: October 04, 1999


Routine Drill Ends In Fatal Crash
Acrobatic Pilot Killed After Lima Lima Planes Clip Wings
Chicago Daily Herald October 2, 1999, Saturday, Cook,DuPage,Lake
Paddock Publications, Inc.
Chicago Daily Herald
October 2, 1999, Saturday, Cook,DuPage,Lake
SECTION: News; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 672 words
HEADLINE: Routine drill ends in fatal crash Acrobatic pilot killed after Lima Lima planes clip wings
BYLINE: Stacy St. Clair Daily Herald Staff Writer

BODY: Lima Lima Flight Team, an internationally renowned precision flying troupe, pierced the skies Friday with a pristine record.

By night’s end, a Wheaton aviator would be dead and five other pilots left to figure out how a routine practice run turned fatal.

Keith J. Evans, 61, died instantly when his plane torpedoed into a cornfield about five miles south of Oswego. Evans, a retired commercial airline pilot, had logged more than 20,000 flight hours, Lima Lima members said.

“He was a super guy, and we’re really concerned about his family now”, member Robert Hicks said. “He was an accomplished pilot. We certainly are at loss”.

Members of the flight team gathered at Aurora Municipal Airport Friday night to speak with federal aviation officials and to console each other. The pilots described themselves as being stunned by their first air fatality.

“What we ask for is prayers for the guy we don’t have anymore”, spokesman John Rippinger said. “We’re a team. We respond as a team. We respond as a family”.

Lima Lima, based at Naperville’s Aero Estates - an exclusive subdivision with airplane runways for all its private pilots - left the airfield around 3 p.m. Friday. Six planes headed west toward Kendall County, where the ample cornfields provide a good spot for rehearsing precision flying.

Forty-five minutes into the flight, authorities said the single-engine planes pulled into a tight diamond formation. Witnesses estimate the troupe’s altitude at about 1,500 feet at the time.

Two of the aircraft clipped wings while in the common configuration, causing one to nose-dive into a cornfield.

“I thought it was coming down into a maneuver, and then it started spiraling down, going wing over wing”, said Tom Simpkins, a Kendall County resident who witnessed the crash. “Then it just exploded”.

The plane, a Beech T-34 Mentor, augured into the ground, leaving only the wings and tail intact. Evans’ body was pulled from the wreckage about three hours later.

The plane was registered to Naperville resident Lou Drendel, a charter Lima Lima member and current president of the National T-34 Association.

Witnesses rushed into the field after the impact, only to find a charred aircraft resting among 8-foot-tall cornstalks. The crash site was about 30 feet in diameter - nearly the same length as the plane’s wingspan.

“It was like someone had a bonfire there”. Simpkins said. “It was really sad. I was sorry to see it”.

After the crash, two Lima Lima planes - including the one that survived the accident - flew to Aurora Municipal Airport. The remaining three aircraft returned to Aero Estates.

Authorities would not release the name of the other pilot involved in the accident. Federal Aviation Administration records show the second plane that survived the crash is registered to Naperville resident Gene Martin, a Lima Lima alum who lives in Aero Estates.

FAA officials suspended their investigation Friday night after removing Evans’ body from the wreckage. They are expected to return to the site this morning to remove the plane.

“If you’re looking for a cause, you’re talking about experienced people here”, Kendall County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Richard Herron said. “I’m sure it was just a mistake”.

As authorities inspected the wreckage, Kendall County residents reminisced about Lima Lima’s previous practices. On Thursday, the team rehearsed perfect formations over the same cornfield where Evans died.

Evans’ Wheaton neighbors credit the pilot for fostering a familial atmosphere on his street, Shady Lane. His friends there say they would not have had a perfectly manicured cul-de-sac if it weren’t for his efforts.

“When he retired from flying he said he might never captain a plane again, but he would always be the captain of our block”, neighbors Barbara Neidballa said. “We loved him so very much”.

Daily Herald staff writers David R. Kazak, Melissa Knopper, Michael Murphy, Susan Stevens, Kevin Barrett and Ann Piccininni contributed to this report.

LOAD-DATE: October 5, 1999


Investigation Begins With Fellow Pilots
Chicago Daily Herald October 2, 1999, Saturday, D3
Paddock Publications, Inc.
Chicago Daily Herald
October 2, 1999, Saturday, D3
SECTION: News; Pg. 7
LENGTH: 546 words
HEADLINE: Investigation begins with fellow pilots
BYLINE: Kevin Barrett Daily Herald Staff Writer

BODY: When the six bright yellow T-34 Mentors took off Friday from the Naper Aero Club, there was nothing to suggest the coming tragedy.

Sunshine. Fine-tuned machines. Expert fliers in the cockpits.

Then during a routine flight formation over an Oswego cornfield, something went wrong.

And for the first time in its long and lauded existence, the Lima Lima Flight Team lost a member.

The accident claimed the life of Keith J. Evans, 61, a Wheaton resident and retired commercial pilot.

Afterward, surviving team members gathered at the Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove to undergo an extensive and detailed debriefing.

Meanwhile, a small group of friends, neighbors and fellow pilots gathered several miles away at the team’s home base, the Naper Aero Club on 83rd Street near Route 59, to look for answers.

Mark Clements, airport manager for the club, said the Lima Lima team has flown out of Naperville in one form or another since 1956.

Until Friday, it had enjoyed a spotless safety record.

“We’re all shocked”, he said. “Any time you have highly proficient pilots and very well maintained airplanes, you’re always questioning what could have happened”.

Lima Lima members are all commercial pilots, many trained by the military before moving on to major carriers.

The team practices every weekend for the spectacular aerobatic shows it puts on across the country. Friday’s get-together was not unusual, Clements said.

During a typical practice, they may take off from the Aero Club runways multiple times. Once airborne, they’ll head toward Kendall County, where the wing-to-wing loops and dives are perfected.

The airport keeps no records of flight activity, but in the time leading up to the accident, Clements said the team likely followed its routine.

At some point they assembled in formation and something went wrong. Beyond that, few save for investigators and the team itself can say for sure.

“The only thing we know is that two of the airplanes came into contact in mid-air. One went to the ground and the other was able to maintain flight control and land at Aurora Airport”, he said.
According to Clements, the pilots gathered at the same airport trying to pinpoint what may have gone wrong.

“They’re professionals and they’re a team”, he said. “They’re reviewing the situation in great detail”.

Those back at Aero Estates were as saddened by the accident as they were confident in the Lima Lima pilots’ abilities.

“These people fly all the time. They’re very safety conscious. They do all kinds of maneuvers. They’re precision pilots”, said John Gonscher, a resident of the nearby White Eagle subdivision and a private pilot since 1969.

Moments later, a weeping woman approached Gonscher with some friends. Gonscher did what he could to comfort the woman, distraught over a similar accident involving another Aero Club pilot that killed a loved one just months ago.

In July, Aero Estates pilot Rodney Kenslow died while flying during a rainstorm.

Naperville Flying Club president Norb Thieme said the crashes were purely coincidental.

“There’s absolutely no correlation”, he said. “It’s still less dangerous than driving a car”.

Daily Herald staff writer Ann Piccininni contributed to this report.

GRAPHIC: GRAPHIC: The Beech T-34 Mentor

LOAD-DATE: October 5, 1999


Pilot Killed Was Experienced In Commercial, Military Planes
Copley News Service October 02, 1999, Saturday
Copley News Service
Copley News Service
October 02, 1999, Saturday 21:27 Eastern Time
SECTION: State and regional
LENGTH: 1228 words
HEADLINE: Pilot killed was experienced in commercial, military planes
BYLINE: Steve Lord
DATELINE: NAPERVILLE

BODY:
The sun shone and a stiff breeze that probably would have made a good tail wind blew across the asphalt runways at Naper Aero Estates airport.

But all the wind blew Saturday afternoon were a pair of floral bouquets and a mylar balloon placed as a small memorial to Keith J. Evans, 61, a retired pilot who died Friday in a plane crash in Kendall County.

Evans, who had been a member of the elite Lima Lima Flight Team based at the Aero Estates airport for about a year and was an experienced pilot, had been practicing maneuvers with the team when something went wrong.

Evans’ plane apparently collided with another team plane, rolled over and went straight down to the ground about 4 p.m. near Stewart and Simons roads, just off Route 30, in Kendall County near Oswego. But just exactly what went wrong still is unknown.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board spent most of Saturday interviewing team members at the Aurora Municipal Airport. The plane Evans collided with was slightly damaged, but returned safely to the Aurora airport Friday afternoon.

John Rippinger, a Lima Lima team member and spokesman for the group, said the NTSB will decide what happened when they finish the investigation. He said the accident happened during ‘‘a maneuver we do all the time.’’

“No, we don’t know what happened”, he said. “That’s the job of the NTSB”.

A statement from the Lima Lima organization posted on its World Wide Web site said, ‘‘Any details regarding the incident itself would only lead to speculation, which would be inappropriate.’’

Meanwhile, Rippinger said team members will try to forget about accident details for a few days to concentrate on helping Evans’ family. Evans was married and lived in Wheaton. He has adult children.

Services will be held for Evans at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Matthew United Church of Christ, 420 S. Gables Blvd., Wheaton.

‘‘We’ve had no time to be with the family,’’ Rippinger said. ‘‘What’s on our mind right now is Keith.’’

NO AEROBATICS

The Lima Lima Flight Team was started in the 1970s by retired pilots who had a love for the T-34 Mentor military training plane. It started with 15 members, and there still are 11 active pilots, mostly from the Chicago area.

The squadron specializes in military formation flying skills, and has performed in air shows from coast to coast before 100 million spectators. Most recently, they performed this summer at the Chicago Air and Water Show.

The squadron is based out of Aero Estates, a subdivision which features taxiways to the airport runways from individual homes. Several Lima Lima members live in Aero Estates.

All pilots in the squadron are experienced. Most of them have both military and commercial flying experience, which was the case with Evans. He was a retired United Airlines pilot with extensive experience in DC-10s. He flew F-100 fighter jets in Vietnam.
‘‘We only have extremely experienced pilots,’’ Rippinger said.

In the past, the squadron has used some aerobatics in its routines, but stopped them in May when the FAA prohibited aerobatics in all T-34s, and placed restrictions on the speed of the planes, limiting the G-force exerted on them.

The FAA action came after the crash of a T-34A operated by a company near Georgia in which two people were killed.

Rippinger said the Lima Lima squadron has strictly complied with the FAA directive, although the national T-34 Association has hired an engineer to work with the FAA in studying the structural integrity of the T-34 design.

‘‘We feel the structural integrity of the plan is OK, but we need to err on the side of safety,’’ Rippinger said.

You can contact Steve Lord at (630) 844-5926 or send e-mail to
steve.lord@exchange.copleypress.com

LOAD-DATE: October 03, 1999


Pilot Killed In Stunt Plane Crash Identified As Wheaton Man
The Associated Press State & Local Wire October 2, 1999, Saturday, AM cycle
Associated Press
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
October 2, 1999, Saturday, AM cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 164 words
HEADLINE: Pilot killed in stunt plane crash identified as Wheaton man
DATELINE: OSWEGO, Ill.

BODY:
The stunt pilot killed when his plane crashed into a Kendall County corn field has been identified as a 61-year-old Wheaton man.

Officials say Keith J. Evans, a retired United Airlines pilot and fighter pilot in Vietnam, crashed Friday afternoon. They say the crash happened after Evans plane collided with another plane as the Lima Lima Flight Team practiced maneuvers.

The other plane was damaged but landed safely in nearby Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove, officials said.

Robert Rickert, who was watching the team practice from his kitchen window, saw Evans’ plane crash.

“Because its wings went vertical, it rolled over and went straight down”, he told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

The Lima Lima team has a national reputation as one of the elite flying teams. It appears at air shows throughout the United States, including the Chicago Air and Water Show, which it performed in last month.

LOAD-DATE: October 2, 1999


Air Show Plane Crashes, Kills Pilot
The Associated Press State & Local Wire October 2, 1999, Saturday, PM cycle
Associated Press
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
October 2, 1999, Saturday, PM cycle
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 318 words
HEADLINE: Air show plane crashes, kills pilot
DATELINE: OSWEGO, Ill.

BODY:
A Wheaton man was killed after his small air show plane crashed into a cornfield and burst into flames.

Keith J. Evans, 61, was the pilot of a plane that crashed about 40 miles west of Chicago on Friday, authorities said. The aircraft went down after apparently touching wings with another plane during practice maneuvers over Kendall County.

The other plane was damaged but landed safely at nearby Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove. That pilot was unharmed.

Evans was alone in the plane, said Cmdr. Rich Herron of the Kendall County Sheriff’s Department.

The two aircraft were among six T-34 Mentors in a squad from the Naperville-based Lima Lima Flight Team, which was practicing flight maneuvers. The two-seat, yellow World War II trainers have been popular fixtures at the annual Chicago Air and Water Show.
John Rippinger, a Lima Lima pilot who was not practicing Friday, described the team’s flight record as flawless.

“The team’s been together for years and never so much as chipped paint”, Rippinger said. “There’s nothing at all I can say right now”.

The flight team did not have any air traffic control assistance because weather conditions were clear, said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman. She said that was normal procedure.

Herron said witnesses reported the planes touched in the air shortly after 3:30 p.m.

“The six were in a flight formation, and they peeled off one by one. One pilot lost control and went right down into the cornfield”, one witness, Robert Richert, told WMAQ-TV in Chicago.

Herron said the other four planes were undamaged and landed safely in Aurora and Naperville.

The fire from the downed plane burned a wide swath in the cornfield, and members of the Oswego Fire Department spent more than an hour dousing the flames.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, Herron said.

LOAD-DATE: October 2, 1999


PILOT KILLED IN AIR-SHOW PRACTICE;WHEATON MAN DIES IN CRASH NEAR OSWEGO
Chicago Tribune October 2, 1999 Saturday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION
Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
October 2, 1999 Saturday, CHICAGOLAND FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 5; ZONE: N
LENGTH: 535 words

HEADLINE: PILOT KILLED IN AIR-SHOW PRACTICE;
WHEATON MAN DIES IN CRASH NEAR OSWEGO

BYLINE: By John Chase and Jeff Coen, Tribune Staff Writers. Freelance writer Gene Kuleta contributed to this report.

BODY:
It was a practice routine the six pilots, members of one of the most-viewed civilian flight teams in the country, had done many times.

Flying about 1,500 feet above the cornfields of Kendall County in their bright taxicab-yellow 1950s-era T-34 Mentors, the squad from the Naperville-based Lima Lima Flight Team flew tightly together doing standard formations, including maneuvering their planes to form an arrowhead.

But once the squad broke its formation after 20 minutes--with two aircraft staying close together--it was clear something went amiss, witnesses said. One of the planes started spinning toward the fields below. Then it disappeared beyond the horizon.

“The next thing I saw was a huge ball of bright-orange flames and black smoke”, said Michael Mancione, who lives about two miles from where the airplane went down. “It was just one of the most horrible things I’ve seen”.

A pilot, Keith J. Evans, 61, of Wheaton, was killed, his family confirmed late Friday.

Federal aviation officials said two planes, known as “war birds”, were practicing their maneuvers with the rest of the team about 15 miles southeast of Aurora near Oswego when they collided in mid-air shortly before 4 p.m. Friday.

One aircraft crashed; the second plane was damaged but the pilot was unhurt, Kendall County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Rich Herron said. Investigators late Friday were not saying exactly how the collision occurred, although Herron described the collision as occurring when the two planes “touched”.

The crash occurred while the team was rehearsing for a scheduled performance later Friday at Navy Pier in Chicago, said John Rippinger, a Lima Lima pilot who was not practicing Friday.

Rippinger described Lima Lima’s flight record as flawless.

“The team’s been together for years and never so much as chipped paint”, he said. “There’s nothing at all I can say right now”.

Lima Lima evolved from a flying club founded in 1975. Consistently honored for their elite flying skills, Lima Lima has performed before an estimated 100 million spectators at air shows across the United States, including at almost every Chicago Air and Water Show.

The crash investigation, being headed by the National Transportation Safety Board, was scheduled to continue Saturday.

Emergency crews gathered Friday afternoon at the crash site in a cornfield west of Stewart Road and north of Simons Road, two rural roads in unincorporated Kendall County that cut through several farm fields.

The flight team did not have any air traffic control assistance, according to Elizabeth Isham Cory, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman. She said that was not unusual, because weather conditions were clear.

After the planes collided, she said, a Lima Lima pilot reported the emergency to the Chicago TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) facility in Elgin. One of the remaining five planes and the damaged aircraft landed at Aurora Municipal Airport. The other three planes flew to Aero Estates in Naperville, the squad’s home base.

“It’s absolutely shocking any time you have an accident that involves a highly skilled pilot and a meticulously maintained aircraft”, Aero Estates airport manager Mark Clements said.

GRAPHIC: PHOTOPHOTO: Kendall County Sheriff Richard Randall surveys the field where a member of the Lima Lima Flight Team died Friday in a plane crash. Tribune photo by John Kringas.

LOAD-DATE: October 2, 1999