Plane made in Oregon in crashes

10/15/2002
By NWCN, KREM and AP Staff

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho -- Two Boise-area men were killed and a third was injured when their airplane crashed while landing at a private airstrip near Coeur d'Alene.

Kootenai County Sheriff's Captain Ben Wolfinger says pilot 32-year-old Grant Bailey of Boise and 39-year-old Barry Boetple of Meridian were killed in the crash this morning about five miles east of the city. Bailey was originally from Portland, friends told KGW

A passenger, 34-year-old Nate Calvin of Boise, was ejected and survived. He was being treated at Kootenai Medical Center for a broken leg, cuts and scrapes.

(KREM graphic/photo)

Wolfinger says the men were employed by Chelton Flight Service of Boise and were in the area on a business trip.

The plane, an experimental "kit" plane made by Lancair International of Redmond, Oregon, left the runway and struck a tree. Bailey had worked for several years for Lancair, family friend Jake Jacobs told kgw.com. Bailey was also the son of well-known Portland health author Covert Bailey.

Grant Bailey 5/18/1970 - 10/15/02

Note from Jake Jacobs:

Grant Bailey left Lancair and started a new position at Chelton Flight Systems in Boise in August 2002 as Director of Training and Documentation. I visited him there during a flight on August 31st. He had just completed a simulator setup which was a big hit as part of their display at NBAA in September and was enjoying his new job. Grant and I had been exchanging emails over the last few weeks he got set up on the CAA web with his new address and he registered to attend Bob Miles party in Palm Springs. On October 4th he sent an email saying he had just signed the closing papers on a new house that he bought in Boise and he and his family were getting settled into their new environment. Grant was a wonderful person and a super pilot and has many, many good friends who will miss him dearly.

More information will be posted on the web as it becomes available.