FYI ...... From The Cape Cod Times

Vineyard pilot killed in plane crash
By ERIC GERSHON
STAFF WRITER
WEST TISBURY - An Oak Bluffs man was killed yesterday when the experimental
aircraft he was flying crashed and burned in a state forest north of Martha's
Vineyard Airport.

State police identified the victim as James R. Rogers, 55. He was the registered
owner and only person aboard a Lancair 360 that took off at about noon and
crashed moments later.

Airport manager Sean Flynn said he did not know whether the plane caught fire
before or after it crashed, about 200 feet inside the Manuel F. Correllus State
Forest, and the cause of the accident was not immediately known. State and
federal aviation investigators were on the island yesterday afternoon.

The fire was contained to a small area around the crash site and was
extinguished by firefighters.

An experienced pilot and mechanic who was a regular presence at Martha's
Vineyard Airport, Rogers built the Lancair 360 himself, Flynn said.

Yesterday's flight is thought to have been one of his first in the Lancair, and
family members were on hand for takeoff. Someone is thought to have made a
videotape of the departure, which may aid investigators.

''If it's true that there is a video, it may be very revealing,'' Flynn said.

A product of Lancair International Inc. of Oregon, the Lancair 360 is a
low-wing, single-engine aircraft typically built from a kit.

Since the first Lancair was developed in 1984, nearly 1,900 models have been
sold in more than 34 countries, according to the company's Web site.

Reached at home yesterday, a woman who identified herself as a member of the
Rogers family declined to comment.

Associates described Rogers, a builder, as a longtime Vineyarder, an avid and
skilled aviator, and a popular member of the island's flying community.

''He was a pillar of that little community that grows up inside an airport,''
Flynn said.

After a Cessna flown by a deaf pilot crashed at Edgartown's Katama Airpark last
June, Rogers hauled the plane away, said Paul Santopietro, a biplane pilot who
flies out of Katama.

Several people were seriously injured in the Katama crash.

Martha's Vineyard Airport was closed for about an hour after yesterday's crash.

Other pilots who flew over the Vineyard yesterday described weather conditions
as clear.

Staff writer Karen Jeffrey contributed to this report. Eric Gershon can be
reached at egershon@capecodonline.com.