Cary pilot dies after Wisconsin crash

A Cary pilot died Saturday in northeastern Wisconsin after his single-engine plane apparently malfunctioned and crashed briefly after takeoff, police said.

The crash occurred around 11:45 a.m. in Lakewood, about 74 miles northwest of Green Bay.

The pilot, 50-year-old Jeff Swanson, was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield, where he was pronounced dead at 11:04 p.m.

Swanson's passenger, 42-year-old girlfriend Mary Kay Kulinski of Beecher, was in serious condition after the crash.

Early last week, Swanson and Kulinski had attended the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture show in Oshkosh.

The AirVenture show was the site of a tragic accident on Friday that killed one pilot and injured another when their planes collided while landing.

Police said Swanson and Kulinski left Oshkosh on Wednesday to visit friends in northern Wisconsin. The couple was headed home on Saturday when their plane crashed, police said.

Witnesses said that after taking off from Lake John, the plane didn't make it far above the trees before starting to fall back to the ground, clipping a power line as it came down. The plane hit the ground and slid into some trees before coming to a stop.

Witnesses said the engine didn't sound like it was functioning properly. The Oconto County Sheriff and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the cause of the crash.

The homebuilt plane, a 2001 Arnet Pereyra Aventura II, was wrecked in the crash.