A longtime pilot from Wisconsin died Sunday morning after his single-engine plane collided with another plane while landing in formation at an air show in Peru, Ill., officials said.
The planes were flying in a four-aircraft formation from Poplar Grove, Wis., into the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in Peru, said J. Michael Maloney, president of American Air Shows, which operates the Illinois Valley Air Show.
The pilots were attempting to land about 8:50 a.m. when one plane bumped the other one, Maloney said. He said the planes were not part of the air show.
One plane, piloted by Christopher J. Good, 55, of West Bend, Wis., went into a nosedive and hit a grassy area northeast of the airport, Peru Police Chief Glenn Fredrickson said in a statement.
Good was pronounced dead at the scene, and an autopsy is scheduled for Monday.
The other plane landed safely, police said.
The news shook the flying community around West Bend, where Good was a member of the town’s Experimental Aircraft Association chapter, said Jim Retzlaff, a board member of that chapter and manager of the West Bend Municipal Airport.
Good owned a Van’s RV7A, a single-engine plane he spent years building from a kit in his garage, Retzlaff said.
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“He built his own plane. It was an excellent job. He had flown a lot of hours,” Retzlaff said. “He got into formation flying and it seemed to be his passion. It’s close-knit flying, it’s a challenge. It’s precision flying.”
Good had moved to the area from England with his wife about a dozen years ago, and he was always happy to indulge people taken with his British accent, Retzlaff said.
“He could strike up a conversation with anybody.”
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