Cirrus Employees Identified In Fatal Small Plane Crash

UPDATE (June 21, 2:25 p.m.) — The people that died in a plane crash Wednesday morning north of Duluth have been identified.

They are 60-year-old Bryan Handyside from unorganized township 54R13 and 64-year-old Matthew Joseph from Duluth.

Both of them worked at Cirrus, but the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office says the airplane was privately owned.

Handyside was piloting the plane and had over 30 years of experience.

The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation.

ORIGINAL POST:

DULUTH, Minn. — 2 people are dead after a plane crash happened Wednesday morning north of Duluth.

The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office says it happened at 8:12 a.m. near the 8300 block of Pequaywan Lake Road in unorganized township 54R13.

A state duty officer received a call from Air Force rescue of a registered aircraft beacon that had been alarmed, according to a press release. Possible wreckage was observed from a spotter plane and when officers arrived, they found a crash site in a wooded area.

The pilot and the passenger were found dead. The Sheriff’s Office says they aircraft was believed to have left the Duluth International Airport earlier Wednesday morning.

The plane was a 1964 Aeronca Cjamp. The cause of the crash is unknown at this time.

The FAA will investigate the crash.

Names of the pilot and passenger will be released when family is notified.