TWIN ENGINE CRASH NEAR CHICAGO KILLS 2

January 25, 2010
Abram I. Bohrer

1/25/2010

Two South Florida businessmen were killed Saturday night when their twin-engine plane crashed in a residential neighborhood near Chicago.

The men were identified as Drago Strahija, 32, of Lake Worth, and pilot Gary Bradford, 37, of Hollywood. The small Piper Aerostar crashed Saturday night in Sugar Grove, a village 2 miles from the Aurora airport where the plane took off, authorities said.

According to authorities, the men flew in from Texas and spent one night in Aurora before a planned trip to Denver.

The men were on a business trip for ENS Corp., a Hollywood-based information technology company owned by Bradford, according to his family.

The plane left the airport at 6:52 p.m.and apparently crashed within ten minutes of take-off.

Witnesses reported loud engine noises before the crash, which occurred in a vacant lot across the street from a community college. No injuries were reported on the ground.