An autopsy shows a Wisconsin couple died of blunt head and chest trauma when their small plane crashed.
The Will County coroner's office says Saturday's autopsy confirmed the identities of Deborah Loiselle, 52,and Stuart Seffern, 50, of Madison. The couple died Thursday night while taking off from Joliet Regional Airport. They apparently had stopped there to refuel.
The plane was a Lancair, a high-performance plane typically sold as a kit and home-built.
The National Transportation Safety Board says it appears the small plane "took a hard left" when taking off, flipped over and crashed into a field.
[Image: Stuart Seffern, from lantzairflyers.com]
Seffern was president of the Lantzair Flyers Club in Madison, said Bob Schmidt, who sits on the board of the organization and said he served as president before Seffern took the post five or six years ago, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Loiselle reportedly worked in the Wisconsin Capitol building.
Airport manager Jennifer McFarland said the plane took off from Buffalo Niagara International Airport in New York. A flight plane filed for the plane said it was flying to Madison.
The Joliet airport, at 4000 W. Jefferson St., does not have a control tower, so investigators are going on a witness account of the crash, WISC-TV in Madison, Wis., reported.
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A witness told authorities that the plane approached the runway and showed no signs of trouble.
Funeral services for the couple are planned in Madison.
