Thomas James Bradley, 66, and Bernd Mathias Steffan, 64, both of Middletown, Calif., died on Sunday, July 18, 2011, when the plane they were riding in crashed in Azalea, Oregon. Image courtesy of the Douglas County, Ore., Sheriff's Office.

Thomas James Bradley, 66, and Bernd Mathias Steffan, 64, both of Middletown, were the victims of the fatal plane crash that occurred on Sunday, July 17, according to the sheriff's office of Douglas County, Ore.

Just after 5 p.m. July 17 Douglas County Emergency Communications received a report of an airplane crash in the 4100 block of Azalea Glen Road, the sheriff's office reported.

Sheriff's deputies and emergency response personnel responded to the scene and found a small fixed wing airplane that had crashed shortly after takeoff from a local airfield, the agency said.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office said both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash's cause wasn't known, according to sheriff's officials.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were notified. The sheriff's office said investigators from both agencies arrived on Monday to take over the scene.

An initial FAA report on the incident identified the plane as an experimental, amateur-built Zenith Stol CH701.

The plane, manufactured in 2006, was a fixed wing, single engine aircraft that a search of the FAA Registry confirmed was registered to, and owned by, Bradley.

According to the Web site www.zenithair.com, the Zenith Stol CH701 is a kit airplane first introduced in 1986.

When contacted by Lake County News on Friday, both the FAA and NTSB declined to offer further specifics of the cause of the crash.

“The investigation isn't closed yet,” said Mike Fergus with the FAA's Northwest Mountain Region office.

The NTSB in Washington reported that it would be some time before a final cause was released, although a preliminary report may be ready next week.

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