In brief: Plane crash victims identified as Rocket Engineering employees

Both victims of last week’s fatal plane crash near Felts Field were employees of Spokane-based Rocket Engineering, which specializes in federally approved aircraft modifications.

Richard Runyon, 64, was a U.S. Air Force veteran and test pilot for the company and Lyndon Amestoy, 60, was a customer support manager and a licensed pilot as well, Rocket Engineering said in a statement Monday. The plane, a 1996 Piper Malibu, had undergone an unspecified conversion and was on its test flight following what the company described as a routine Federal Aviation Administration inspection.

The crash is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, and the company, which is located at Felts Field, said it is cooperating.

About 600 planes have undergone Rocket Engineering’s conversions since 1990, the company said. Aviation websites describe the Rocket Engineering conversions as giving planes greater speed and power.

David Wasson

Resolution could start Kelley impeachment

OLYMPIA – Although legislative leaders insisted Tuesday they were focusing on the state’s budgets, two Republican House members tried to start a process that could lead to the impeachment of the state’s embattled, and absent, state auditor.

Reps. Drew MacEwen, of Union, and Drew Stokesbary, of Auburn, filed a resolution to form a committee of six House members to investigate and draft articles of impeachment against Troy Kelley for malfeasance.

“It is our belief Mr. Kelley is guilty of malfeasance by abandoning his office and delegating his authority to another,” MacEwen said.

Whether that resolution – let alone an actual impeachment debate – will come to the floor of the House remains to be seen. A few minutes before MacEwen and Stokesbary held a news conference to announce their resolution, House Speaker Frank Chopp said he and Republican Leader Dan Kristiansen agreed the time wasn’t right, echoing similar sentiments expressed a few hours earlier by Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler.

“Impeachment proceedings at this point would be a major distraction from the more pressing and time-sensitive challenges facing the Legislature” on the budget, Chopp said.

Jim Camden