Founder of Ilmor dies in plane crash

[renaultbel]

An engine specialist with the McLaren Formula One race team was killed on the eve of the Austrian Grand Prix when the vintage plane he was piloting crashed on landing, police said.

Paul Morgan died when his plane flipped as it landed at 3 p.m. at Sywell Airport in Northamptonshire, around 80 miles north of London.

A police spokesman, who declined to be named, said Morgan had been flying alone.

The McLaren team expressed shock at Morgan's death. The company said in a statement he had died in a flying accident but was unaware of specific details.

Morgan was managing director of Ilmor Engineering, the company that builds and supplies McLaren's Mercedes Formula One racing engines.

Morgan was flying a World War Two propeller-driven South African Naval Fury plane, police said.

The single-engine plane crashed on landing, flipping over onto its cockpit and trapping the pilot, a police spokesman said.

"He was certified dead on the scene by a police surgeon," the spokesman said.

The airport was temporarily closed. Officers from the Civil Aviation Authority will investigate the cause of the crash.

Morgan, of Brixworth, Northamptonshire, was in his forties, police said.

The McLaren race team was founded in 1963 by Formula One driver Bruce McLaren, winning his first team victory five years later in Belgium.

Bruce McLaren died in 1970, but the team prospered with legendary drivers including Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Niki Lauda.

My toughts go to the Family of Morgan

[Ralf's Girl]

How tragic. My thoughts are with his family and friends.

[Nicholas]

The ironic thing is that before the news broke, Ralf Schumacher gave a stuffed monkey to Niki Lauda (after his comments that a monkey could drive) saying, "Flying is relatively easy. That's why lots of people do it. Any monkey can fly!"

He (Ralf) is probably feeling a bit stupid now...