Brent Haugen was flying behind a “very dear friend” on Sunday morning when the single-engine airplane that Christian R. Hansen, 64, of Arvada was piloting made a sudden left turn and crashed in a ball of fire just north of Erie Municipal Airport.
Haugen, 49, of Firestone, said he was flying a “chase plane” behind Hansen for the initial test flight of the one-seat Cassutt III M — a vintage design of racing aircraft that Hansen had built for a client — when it went down just before 10 a.m. Sunday.
The man who intended to buy the plane had come up from Corpus Christi, Texas, for the flight, and was in the tailing aircraft with Haugen.
Hansen, who has been manufacturing components and kits for racing airplanes building aircraft for about 20 years, was taking the plane for its first test run Sunday because he was the most qualified to deal with any abnormal situations, should one arise, Haugen said.
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