Date:	Saturday 9 September 1978
Time:	18:26 LT
Type:	Piper PA-31-310 Navajo
Owner/operator:	Sheldon P Weitzman
Registration:	N26AN
MSN:	31-57
Year of manufacture:	1967
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Category:	Accident
Location:	University of Illinois Willard Airport, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois -   United States of America
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	University of Illinois Willard Airport (CMI/KCMI)
Destination airport:	Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio (BKL/KBKL)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Written off (destroyed) 9 September 1978 when stalled and spun into the ground near University of Illinois Willard Airport, Tolono Township, Champaign-Urbana, Savoy, Illinois. Crash caused by engine failure: connecting rod bolt or nut failure in #1 engine for undetermined reasons. Pilot in command unable to maintain climb and/or safe minimum flying speed

Pilots FAA check flight not complete. All six persons on board (pilot and five passengers) killed. One passenger survived the crash. but died later in hospital. According to a contemporary newspaper report ("Journal Gazette" from Mattoon, Illinois, Monday, September 11, 1978):

"CHAMPAIGN, III. (UPI) - Northwestern University football player Michael Weitzman spent most of Sunday at the bedside of his critically injured brother, Brian, the only survivor of a plane crash which killed his father, another brother and three other persons. Sheldon P. .Weitzman, 46, and sons Mitchell, 20, and 17-year-old Brian were returning home to Eastlake, Ohio, after watching Michael, a defensive tackle, play as Northwestern and Illinois battled to a 0-0 tie Saturday. The twin-engine Navajo Beech aircraft apparently lost power in one of its engines and crashed into a soybean field near Willard Airport about six miles south of Champaign Saturday, night, authorities said. Killed were the senior Weitzman; Mitchell; the pilot Richard E. Kane, 29, Lakewood, Ohio; Kane's wife Barbara, 22; and Christine Ellzey, 38, Berea, Ohio. Mrs. Kane, who died of multiple injuries Sunday, and Brian were taken from the crash scene to Burnham Hospital"

Registration N26AN cancelled by the FAA on May 4, 1982

1. NTSB Identification: CHI78FA064 at https://www.ntsb.gov/about/employment/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=39684&key=0
2. FAA: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=26AN
3. http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1978/1978-45.htm
4. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1978/archives/crash-of-a-piper-pa-31-navajo-chieftain-in-savoy-6-killed/]
5. Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois Monday, September 11, 1978
6. http://planecrashmap.com/plane/il/N26AN/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
25-Feb-2008 12:00	ASN archive	Added
22-Apr-2015 17:56	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source]
22-Apr-2015 23:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
10-May-2015 02:02	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Destination airport, Narrative]
26-Jan-2017 11:30	TheoIII	Updated [Source, Narrative]
25-Sep-2017 23:16	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Source, Narrative]