NEW RUSSIA TWP. — A plane crash Monday afternoon at the Lorain County Regional Airport killed a Vermilion Township inventor and his wife, along with the plane’s pilot and co-pilot.

Donald Brown, 89, and his wife, Shirley, 87, were returning to Ohio from Gainesville, Fla. Brown made millions for inventing the drop ceiling and was known in the area for his palatial home along Lake Erie.

The plane was approaching the airport from the west when it crashed around 2:05 p.m. several thousand yards short of the runway, just inside the airport fence, the Ohio Highway Patrol reported.

Lt. Travis Hughes, commander of the Elyria post of the State Highway Patrol, described the wreckage as “severe.”

Hughes said three bodies were found at first, including one outside the plane, and first responders did not disturb the crash scene to look for the fourth victim.

He said it was obvious no one had survived.

“It’s quite mangled,” Hughes said of the plane.

Airport neighbor Bob Tallhamer, who saw the plane coming in, said he noticed it was lower than the typical plane, but he did not notice any unusual sound.

“I just got a glimpse of it and it disappeared over the house,” Tallhamer said.

Listen to an interview with neighbor Bob Tallhamer, who saw the plane coming in:

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Rescue workers including LifeCare Ambulance Service and the Oberlin Fire Department rushed to the scene, but quickly found there was nothing they could do.

“It was a really horrible crash,” said Herb de la Porte, one of the owners of LifeCare.

Lorain County Coroner Dr. Paul Matus pronounced all four victims dead at the scene.

Listen to scanner audio from the plane crash:

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The location of the crash and the condition of the plane made efforts to investigate the crash and extricate the victims difficult Monday night.

“(The crash site) is so far off the road and the runway, that it’s hard to get equipment there,” Hughes said. A backhoe arrived at the scene a little after 6 p.m.

Russia Road was closed from West Ridge Road to Oberlin Road for several hours Monday.

The plane’s pilot was Wesley Roemer, 30, of Gainesville. John Mengelson, 46, of Florahome, Fla., was the chief mechanic and co-pilot. Both worked for Gainesville-based Kenn Air, an aircraft consulting firm.

According to a report from Fox affiliate WOFL in Orlando and the Gainesville Sun, Brown’s other son, Kenneth, is the owner of the firm.

Mengelson’s wife, Melinda, said she talked to her husband during the flight and he reported the plane was having unspecified problems, according to Lee Breeze of WCJB Channel 20 in Gainesville.

Melinda Mengelson told the Gainesville Sun that her husband had served 20 years in the Coast Guard.

The Highway Patrol, Lorain County Coroner’s Office, Lorain County Sheriff’s Department, Lorain County Emergency Management, Oberlin Fire Department and EMS, Lorain County Metro Parks, Lorain County Regional Airport Security, Civil Air Patrol, Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were all on the scene late Monday.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the 10-seat plane is owned by Mitts Corp. in Gainesville, Fla. The Highway Patrol said the plane is an MU-2B, made by Mitsubishi. A 2007 report by CNBC said the MU-2 had been in 111 fatal crashes up until that time with 330 people killed since it was introduced in 1963.

Mitsubishi representatives will be at the crash site today, The Associated Press reported.

In one of the more prominent deaths associated with an MU-2 crash, South Dakota governor George S. Mickelson was killed, along with seven others, in 1993. In 2006, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., called for a congressional investigation into the plane after fatal crashes of the model in the Denver area.

Flightaware.com reported the plane departed Gainesville Regional Airport a little after 11 a.m. for the 2 hour, 38 minute flight.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the FAA was working with the National Transportation Safety Board, which would likely take several weeks to determine the cause of the crash.

Chronicle-Telegram photographer Bruce Bishop also contributed to this story.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com or Melissa Hebert at 329-7129 or mhebert@chroniclet.com.

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