Probe continues into fatal Schaumburg plane crash
Federal investigators will scrutinize the wreckage of a single-engine plane today for clues into what caused an experienced pilot's aircraft to crash at the Schaumburg Airport.
Witnesses said William Borgstrom's 1946 Luscombe 8A started to spin and then shake seconds after takeoff on Monday afternoon. The plane dropped into the grass a short distance from the runway. He was the only occupant of the aircraft.
Borgstrom, 66, of Chicago was described as an adventure-loving, aviation enthusiast.
“He was one of the magical people in my childhood,” niece Barb Danek said. “He loved life.”
A Cook County medical examiner's office spokesman said Tuesday Borgstrom had died of multiple injuries.
National Transportation and Safety Board investigators will be in Schaumburg today to examine the pieces of the plane, which were removed from the crash site to another location at the airport.
The Luscombe departed around 3:30 p.m. and started to climb when Borgstrom started having trouble, said Norbert Paprocki, a pilot from Des Plaines who saw the plane plummet.
Paprocki described seeing a normal departure and liftoff, but then when the plane got to about 100 or more feet, “we noticed he started slowing down.”
The left wing of the aircraft dropped and it spun about 180 degrees before descending, said Paprocki who described the accident as a “stall spin.”
Aviation experts said when an aircraft stalls at a low altitude it's much more difficult to recover than at higher levels.
Schaumburg authorities closed the airport after the crash but operations were back to normal Tuesday.
Borgstrom, an engineer, was licensed as a flight instructor and commercial pilot for single-engine planes, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
He is the son of the founder of Chicago's Wendella Sightseeing Co. boat tour company.
Danek, a former Winfield resident who lives in Arkansas now, described Borgstrom as both fun-loving and intellectual.
“He could take anything apart and put it back together again,” she said. “He was an excellent pilot and the best uncle in the world.”
Daily Herald staff reporters Paul Biasco and Ashok Selvam contributed to this report.