2 small planes collide, killing all 4 on board

One man, 19, was studying aeronautical engineering at Kent State University.
ROOTSTOWN (AP) -- Two small airplanes collided Friday over Northeast Ohio and crashed in a field, killing four men, two in each plane. No one on the ground was hurt, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said.
Donald Litsinger, who raises steer on about 100 acres near the crash site, was in his garage when he heard an explosion.
"It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. The planes were on the ground before the wings were. The debris was floating in the sky, wings flipping, and the planes were both spiraling out of control," he said.
The men were identified as John P. Plavcan, 55, of Newbury; and Mark P. Schaden, 36, of Middlefield, flying in a Lancair 235; and Christopher J. Erdovegi, 19, of Lakewood; and Alan L. Lyons, 38, of Shreve, flying in a plane that Patrol Capt. Jim Holt identified as a Cessna 121 L.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that it was a Cessna 172 L but that the plane identifications were preliminary because of the extent of the crash.
Holt said Friday night that authorities don't know the cause of the crash. The origins and destinations of the flights were not released.
The Cessna came to rest upside down in a field near a house in this mostly rural community about 35 miles west of Youngstown.
The Lancair crashed about a quarter-mile away near a roadside after the in-air collision at about 2 p.m. It was registered to Plavcan, of Newbury, about 25 miles east of Cleveland, according to the Federal Aviation Administration Web site.
The brown tail from the Lancair was broken off, and one of the wings was almost completely separated from the plane, which crashed near a new housing development.
Father's thoughts
Erdovegi's father, John, said his son was studying aeronautical engineering at Kent State University. The sophomore also was taking flying lessons through a flight academy in Akron.
His flight instructor was training him to fly with instruments Friday, John Erdovegi said.
"I don't understand; the weather was perfect," he said.
Erdovegi started flying after graduating from St. Edward High School in 2004, his father said. He had logged about 80 hours.
His son, who would have turned 20 in two weeks, became interested in flying while attending Cleveland air shows as he was growing up, he said.
"He was a one-of-a-kind kid," Erdovegi said about his only child, adding later, "I won't have any grandchildren."
A man who answered the phone at a listing for Plavcan said the family had no comment at this time. A message was left at the home of Schaden's parents.
Dr. Roger Marcial, the Portage County coroner, said the bodies would be sent to Cleveland and Akron for autopsies.
At the scene
Litsinger said he and his two sons drove to the scene, where they found one victim lying outside the aircraft.
"He was in a bad way. There was a lot of blood," Litsinger said.
After paramedics arrived, he drove to the second crash site, where he saw another person under the wreckage. "The impact twisted him up like a pretzel," he said.
Jeff English said he was driving on nearby Ohio 18 and saw one plane in the air and heard an explosion. He said part of one of the wings landed near his vehicle as he drove along the highway.
"If I wouldn't have hit my brakes, it probably would have went straight through my windshield," English said.
The FAA said investigators from the agency and the National Transportation Safety Board were sent to the scene, and the NTSB would lead the investigation. The NTSB office in Chicago said it had no information yet because an investigator still was on the way to the scene.