Shuttle Pilot Dies In Crash

The pilot who commanded the last successful flight of the space shuttle Challenger died Friday when the small test plane he was flying crashed.

Col. Robert Overmyer was flying alone in the smallengine plane when it went down near Duluth International Airport at 12:30 p.m.

Overmyer, 59, had a wife, Katherine, and three children.

He was conducting tests on the VK30 prototype plane for its manufacturer, Cirrus Design Corporation, which has a base in Duluth. He had been hired last year to test fly its planes.