EVERETT – Jim Londo lived to fly.
Londo, 60, and his family were among the aviation enthusiasts who started the Arlington Fly-In 35 years ago. He never missed one, delighting in the chance to give kids their first airplane ride.
“He was a passionate pioneer for aviation in the Puget Sound area,” friend Barbara Tolbert, director of the fly-in, said Monday. “This is a very sad day for thousands of people in the aviation community.”
Londo of Everett died Sunday from injuries he suffered in a plane crash.
Londo, his nephew and brother Bob Londo were flying back from McMinnville, Ore., on Saturday when Bob Londo’s Cessna A185F went down in bad weather near Toutle, Wash.
The Cessna caught fire on impact. Jim Londo pulled his unconscious brother, who was piloting the plane, out of the burning wreckage, police said.
Bob Londo, 47, of Medina, suffered first- and second-degree burns to his face and legs, his family said. His son, Kaiser Londo, 16, broke his arm.
Jim Londo suffered burns over about 60 percent of his body, wife Julie Londo said.
After a 911 call was made from her husband’s cellular phone, rescuers searched throughout the night for the downed plane but were unable to find the trio.
Bob Londo went for help Sunday morning, walking barefoot about three miles – leaving a trail of wreckage to guide rescuers to the site.
A driver on a logging road picked him up. Jim Londo was still alive when searchers arrived at the crash site, but they were unable to save him, Cowlitz County sheriff’s Capt. Mark Nelson said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. The probe is expected to take six months to a year.
Jim Londo, who designed his first aircraft in his early 20s, and his brother were skilled pilots, family members said. Londo often flew his two-seater GlaStar, taking off from a grass airstrip behind his Lowell home.
“If he was worried about something, he’d hop in the air,” Julie Londo said. “Up there, he was happy and relaxed, not a care in the world.”
After a horse kicked him in the head in 1994, he built the GlaStar to help in his recovery, sister Marilyn Firlotte of Seattle said.
“He said the GlaStar is what helped him get better,” she said. “It was an inspiration to all of us that he didn’t just accept his injuries. He was determined to fly again.”
He finished building the airplane on the Arlington company’s showroom floor, helping engineers fine-tune the design, she said. He was the first pilot in the nation to build it.
He made a video demonstrating how to put the plane together and showed the plane around the country, said friend Ted Setzer, a Glasair employee. Londo, who built his home and easily repaired anything, also helped other pilots build their planes, eager to show them the fun of flying, Setzer said.
Londo was inspired by his father, Francis Londo, who was also a member of the Northwest Experimental Aircraft Association.
During the early years of the EAA Fly-In at Arlington, the Londos would cook a big spaghetti dinner for the pilots. Jim Londo even volunteered to pick up garbage there a few years.
“If you met Jim and talked to him, you couldn’t believe he was 60 years old. He had the enthusiasm of a teenager most of the time,” said friend Jim Scott, the fly-in manager. “That was his first love – aviation and airplanes.”
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
