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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Three Killed In Flaming Crash After Ultralight Aircraft Collide

Associated Press

Two ultralight aircraft, apparently flying together, collided Thursday over a pea field near here and crashed in flames, killing the three people aboard.

Dodie Compton, the wife of one victim, told The Seattle Times the dead included her husband, Dan Compton, 33, owner of Dan’s Air, an Arlington flight school; his student, Stephen Levine, 56, who was visiting from Atlanta; and Jim Vick, who was alone in the other plane.

The Snohomish County medical examiner’s office said dental records will be used to confirm the men’s identities because their bodies were too badly burned to allow for fingerprint or visual identification.

The process will take two to three days, the office said.

Compton, who answered the phone at Dan’s Air, earlier confirmed that one craft was a tandem ultralight - designed to be operated by two people. She declined further comment.

“I don’t feel like talking any more,” she said.

The accident occurred in clear, sunny weather. The victims and their craft fell about 300 feet, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen said.

“I’m sure it was over quickly for them,” she said.

The aircraft came down just east of Interstate 5 at the Arlington exit, about 45 miles north of Seattle.

“The pilots apparently were very highly experienced,” she said.

“It appears that they were intentionally flying together,” Jorgensen said, and the higher craft “collided with the one down below.”

Neither a pilot’s license nor aircraft inspection is required for the single-winged aircraft, usually built from a kit. The FAA does require pilot licenses and safety inspections for almost all other flying machines, including hot air balloons, blimps, experimental aircraft and gliders.

Nationwide, the FAA estimates there are 15,000 to 40,000 ultralights - generally described as single-seat aircraft with parachute-type wings, a long, narrow aluminium tube for a body and a motorcycle-sized engine that fires up with a pull-string starter.

Less than a week ago, a Vietnam veteran making his first solo flight died in an ultralight crash in Springdale, Wash.