Pilot and passenger killed in crash of small plane near Duluth

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — The pilot and a passenger in a small plane died when it crashed shortly after taking off from the Duluth International Airport early Wednesday, investigators said.

The crash occurred in a wooded area near an unincorporated township north of Duluth, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The Air Force Rescue Coordinator Center in Florida initially detected an emergency locator transmitter distress signal from the airplane and contacted Minnesota officials.

Deputies found the plane after a spotter plane observed the possible wreckage on the ground. The two people on board were dead, the sheriff’s office said.

The plane was a 1946 Aeronca 7CCM, which can seat two occupants. Investigators believe the aircraft recently completed an annual inspection and was on a return to service flight, the sheriff’s office said.

The dead were identified as 60-year-old Bryan Paul Handyside, from the unorganized township near where the crash occurred; and 64-year-old Matthew William Joseph, from Duluth, the sheriff’s department said.

Handyside, who had more than 30 years of piloting experience, was flying the plane and Joseph was the passenger.

The two men worked at Cirrus Aircraft but the plane they were in was privately owned.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.