On Saturday, July 11th, at approximately 5 p.m., Grosse Ile first responders headed to the 27000 block of Loma Circle after receiving several reports that an airplane had crashed in the residential neighborhood, located near the south end of the island.
Responding personnel found a single-engine ultralight aircraft overturned at the base of a tree in the backyard of a residence, according to a statement released by the Grosse Ile Police Department on Sunday.
The pilot, identified as 57-year-old Jeffrey Dean Oliver of Lincoln Park, had been ejected from the aircraft and he was receiving CPR from a resident when rescue personnel arrived. Oliver was rushed to Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy will be performed by the Wayne County Medical Examiner to determine whether the cause of death was the result of injuries sustained in the crash or a “medical condition that occurred while in flight,” according to the statement released by police.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.
The aircraft was described as a “Golden Circle Air T-Bird Tandem TBT-06 with fixed wings that falls within the experimental airworthiness class.”
