Plane crash in Eden Prairie kills 2

Wayne Monson bought the 1958 twin-engine Beechcraft 18 airplane more than a year ago in hopes of fixing it up to take his sons on vacations around the country.

"It was up and running," said his 19-year-old son, Brandon, of Virginia, Minn. "He was just checking everything in the air."

On Wednesday, Wayne Monson, 53, and another person were killed when the plane crashed minutes after taking off about 11:30 a.m. at Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie. His son said he didn't know the name of the person who was with his father but was told it was a female pilot.

Witnesses told police that the propeller-driven aircraft had trouble taking off and that the plane dipped before it crashed in the yard of the historic Cummins-Grill House, a city-owned brick structure that was built in 1879 by a pioneer horticulturalist and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The unoccupied building was not damaged, although one of the plane's large wheels rested on its side on the porch.

Elizabeth Isham Cory of the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane's pilot was attempting to immediately return to the airfield when the plane went down.

Wayne Monson, who has homes in Hibbing, Minn., and Osceola, Wis., was scheduled to fly from Eden Prairie to Osceola, Wis., where his three sons and Brandon's girlfriend waited for him. They all were then going to drive to Valley Fair.

"We kept waiting for him, but he was notorious for being late. So we went out for pizza," Brandon Monson said. "We just figured he was being late."

But eventually, Brandon called the Flying Cloud Airport and was told the plane had crashed. "I couldn't believe it. He's had so many crazy experiences in his life. ...When he was younger, he ran into a fence on a horse and was severely gashed. It was just random stuff."

And it included a few close calls in planes he has flown over the years, Brandon Monson said. "It just finally caught up to him," he said.

Brandon Monson said his dad had aborted a test flight on the Beechcraft a couple of weeks ago because he found gas in the bottom of the plane and the fuel pressure was too low. "He said the plane would have totally exploded," Brandon Monson said. "I don't think that was the problem today."

Trouble from the start

Witnesses told authorities the plane's "wings teetered," said city spokeswoman Katie Beal. "It looked like it had trouble from the start."

The bodies remained in the middle of the mangled and charred wreckage, covered with a single red tarp until they were taken away in blue bags by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office. One appeared to be near the fuselage, while another may have been beneath the wing.

Sgt. Bill Wiffels of the Eden Prairie Police Department said witnesses reported seeing the plane depart westbound, making a 180-degree turn before heading east and making two semi-circles before crashing among the trees.

Wiffels said it was "very fortunate" that no one else was injured, particularly the construction crews working on a road expansion mere yards from the crash.

The crash scene is only 50 yards from Pioneer Trail, a main thoroughfare in the southwest metro suburb. Motorists and kids on bikes -- some snapping photos with their cell phones -- were stopping to get a look at the wreckage.

Mark Diede was driving on Pioneer Trail when he saw the plane "pretty much coming right at me. It looked like it wanted to land on Pioneer Trail."

'Flames just shot up'

Diede, who lives less than a mile from the airport and drives on that road daily, described this plane's approach as "way off. I saw it do some erratic movements ... a second later it just went straight down. Flames just shot up over the trees."

Diede said 20 or 30 workers from a road construction crew ran toward the wreckage, but it was "totally engulfed in flames. No one could do anything."

Pioneer Trail remained closed from Flying Cloud Drive to Staring Lake Road until shortly before 6 p.m.

Fourteen-year-old Andrew Osowski, at a park nearby working as a camp counselor for youngsters, said, "I saw the plane come up at an angle, and it kind of teeter-tottered. One engine started smoking."

'He could fix anything'

Brandon Monson remembers his dad telling him that "God will take him one day so live life and love everybody."

"He was the best dad, honestly. ... He was the most talented person I know. He could fix anything -- a car, a plane, machines. He loved God and his life was his kids," Brandon Monson said. "He turned us into great sons."

Ray Richardson Sr., co-owner and vice president of Ratech Machine in Osceola, said Monson had previously worked full-time for the company and currently contracted with the company.

"A good pilot. A lot of hours [in the air]." Richardson said. "Very intelligent."

Staff writer Tim Harlow contributed to this report. pwalsh@startribune.com • 612-673-4482 asimons@startribune.com • 612-673-4921 mlsmith@startribune.com • 612-673-4788