FICO official dies in plane crash

Lane Brandt, 63, a vice president for farm operations at Farmers Investment Co. (FICO) died Thursday night in a plane crash in the Santa Rita Mountains.

Federal investigators were en route to the scene on Saturday night, a FICO official said.

Brandt, who began working for FICO in 1969, apparently crashed his small plane Thursday night.

The plane was discovered on Friday and the body was found on Saturday afternoon in very rugged terrain by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department search and rescue team, FICO Vice President Nan Walden said.

The single-engine Cessna 182 had crashed into the side of a cliff about 15 miles southwest of Tucson, said Maj. James Nova of the Civil Air Patrol.

The flight left Cochise Airport in Willcox on Thursday, headed for Continental Airport near Tucson, according to Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. Relatives reported the pilot missing the next day. Only one person was believed on board.

The Civil Air Patrol began searching on Friday afternoon, narrowing the search area using cell phone tracking technology, Nova said. A team aboard a CAP plane spotted the wreckage at about 7:30 p.m. and a Department of Public Safety helicopter crew used its spotlight to determine that there were no apparent survivors.

Staff of the National Transportation Safety Board were on the way to the scene, some distance northeast of Madera Canyon.

Brandt is survived by his wife of more than 25 years, Eileen; and by his children, Kelly, Tammy, Lisa, Julie and Allen, manager of FICO’s San Simon pecan orchard Cochise County. Allen had observed Brandt’s takeoff — from Cochise County on his way to the Continental airstrip.

Walden said “Lane was a unique individual, a caring family man, a superb agriculturalist, an author, an experienced pilot, a successful business manager and an acclaimed hunter. He was equally comfortable in a corporate board room, on a tractor, in the pilot’s seat, or on the back of a horse. We’ve lost a friend who can never be replaced. Our deepest sympathy goes to his family.”

Services had not yet been arranged.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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