Pilot in Fatal Crash Identified as Enfield Resident

The pilot of an ultralight aircraft which crashed near Ellington Airport Sunday morning has been identified as Adam Curtis of Enfield.

Curtis, 52, was at the controls of the aircraft around 10 a.m. Sunday when the plane appeared to veer sharply to the right and crashed into a field about 400 yards northwest of the airport runway, police said.

The Life Star helicopter transported Curtis from the scene, but he was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital, police said.

A man who only identified himself as one of the owners of the airport said Curtis had just purchased the ultralight recently, and begun storing it in Ellington just over a week ago.

Curtis was president and CEO of Dean Transmission Parts in Agawam, MA, a family business founded by his father in 1962, according to his obituary.

He had graduated from Longmeadow (MA) High School in 1978, and the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. He was a self-educated and passionate historian, with a vast knowledge of the American Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln, the obituary stated.

Curtis is survived by two sons, his parents, a brother and a sister, among numerous other relatives.