By Christine Patterson
The pilots of a Russian Yakovlev plane muttered a faint ?Mayday? into their radio as their aircraft took a nose-dive, crashing in a field on Main Street in Midway.
Ed Strauchen, an ex-navy pilot, and his unnamed copilot both died on impact Thursday at noon.
Strauchen was one of the four owners of the antique acrobatic ?Yak?, which was flown in World War II.
In 1983, the Yak owners completely refurbished the plane and then, according to aviation regulation, re-registered it as new.
The plane was doing acrobatics when the crash occurred, according to Lynn Adams, mayor of Heber City.
?I thought it was somebody hot-dogging and flying too low,? said Jerry Owens of Midway, who saw the plane Thursday, Jan. 16. ?Then I thought, no, this plane?s going to crash.?
Rumors circulated at the site that an explosion had occurred in the air before the crash, but those reports remain unconfirmed.
Investigators from the FAA are still trying to determine the cause of the accident, but eyewitnesses said there was no sign of engine trouble.
?The airplane took a nose dive straight into the earth. The engine didn?t stall or anything,? Owens said.
The plane was a yellow, fixed wing, high performance, single engine plane according to the Wasatch County Sheriff?s office.
The name of the second victim won?t be released until the family has been notified, according to airport personnel.
The plane crashed less than 200 feet from a nearby group of houses. However, there was no damage to buildings or people.
The Yak took off from the Heber Airplane Museum founded by Strauchen, which is located next to the airport.
Richard Buys, an acquaintance of Strauchen, described him as a good man and an experienced, competent pilot.
Airport personnel described the Yak as a safe aircraft that was flown often for sightseeing.
The museum has one remaining Yak, according to airport personnel.