Arlington -- 2 Instructors, Student Killed In Accident

Two ultralight-training planes collided in midair near Interstate 5 west of Arlington shortly before 10 a.m. today, killing two veteran instructors from Snohomish County and a student passenger from out of state.

Dead are Dan Compton, 33, owner of Dan's Air, an Arlington flight school; and the student he was instructing, Stephen Levine, 56, who was visting from Atlanta, according to Compton's wife, Dodie.

The instructor in the other plane was Jim Vick, who was alone, Compton said.

Witnesses said one of the ultralights rose up into the other and, when they touched, both planes spiraled down and crashed into a pea field just a few hundred feet from I-5. The planes burned on impact.

At the ultralight plane center at nearby Arlington Field, Stuart Gort, owner of Power Fin Inc., said both pilots were experienced instructors with more than 5,000 hours of flying time.

Both planes were two-seaters, Gort said, used to train people to fly. The two instructors had a "no fooling around attitude," he said. "They were serious about flying."

The Silvana Fire Department responded within minutes of the crash and quickly put out the fire.

One witness, a physician, ran to the victims and tried to assist them, but it was too late, said Snohomish County sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Jorgensen.

Witnesses said the two aircraft appeared to be flying together in formation when the accident occurred.

"I heard the crash, looked out the window and ran out the door to help," said Bryan Bussard, 30, who lives adjacent to the field and was the first to arrive at the scene.

Bussard was joined by the doctor and Douglas Hill, who lives across the street from the field. Hill's son, Chris, said he was unloading a truck when he looked up and saw what appeared to be two ultralights performing aerial stunts.

The rescuers tried to get to the men before fire broke out.

"We could smell the fuel in the air, and then all of a sudden it just went up," Bussard said. "We just had to get out."

The doctor, who was not identified, reportedly was singed by the fire.

Dodie Compton said her husband had flown 490 solo flights without incident, mostly in the San Diego area, before he moved to Arlington earlier this summer.

"He was well-respected across the United States and he had a very good reputation for flying," she said.

Bob Grimm, a volunteer firefighter for the Silvana Fire Department, lives across the street from the field and was awakened by the crash.

"It was a thud," said Grimm, 46, who immediately looked out his bedroom window.

While on the phone with 911, his pager went off because his fire station, a quarter mile down the road, was responding to the crash.

Grimm and his son-in-law, Travis Marty, a volunteer firefighter from Arlington who was milking cows behind the house, grabbed three fire extinguishers and ran across the street. By the time they reached the planes, the aircraft were engulfed in flames.

The Arlington airport is known as the area's base for ultralights, with roughly 50 of the crafts there, as well as for repairs and flight training.

Those at the airport were rushing to find information on the crash.

"It's a small community airport, so people are obviously concerned when it involves someone we could possibly know," said airport manager Cory Duskin.

The ultralights are generally used for recreational activity, rather than stunts or commercial use, Duskin said. They're smaller, lighter and slower than traditional aircraft, using different flight patterns and runways, he said.

They also don't require the same certification process. They do not require Federal Aviation Administration registration, airworthiness certification, or a pilot's certification, Duskin said.

"Flying in an ultralight is like stepping back in time," said Steve Johnston, administrative assistant to the airport manager. They're open to the air, and resemble the first airplanes more than today's, he said.

Ultralights are single-wing, small-engine aircraft, usually built from a kit in someone's garage or shop. They are usually made of metal tubing with fabric wings and fly a few hundred feet off the ground.

The FAA has no jurisdiction over them, other than requiring daylight operation in view of the ground.

On July 9, 1995, two men in an experimental aircraft died when their plane crashed into trees and exploded at Arlington.

The plane's owner had built the plane himself from a kit design popular among experimental aviators. The plane was being exhibited as part of an air show.

Seattle Times staff reporters Rebekah Denn, Susan Gilmore and Linda W.Y. Parrish contributed to this report.