Pecan exec dies in plane crash

The wreckage of Brandt's Cessna 182 was reached Saturday afternoon near the mining ghost town of Helvetia, about 10 miles northeast of Madera Canyon, by Pima County sheriff's deputies and the Southern Arizona search and rescue team.

Brandt, 63, was vice president of farm operations for Farmers Investment Co., better known as Green Valley Pecan Co., which is one of the largest growers of pecans in the nation.

One of FICO's longest-serving employees, Brandt started working at the farm in 1969 and over the years developed a close friendship with the farm's owners, Dick and Nan Walden.

"Layne was truly a unique individual. He was a loving family man, an intelligent and innovative farmer, a great business manager, an expert pilot and a true cowboy," said Nan Walden. "He was equally comfortable in a corporate boardroom, on a tractor, in the pilot's seat or on the back of a horse."

Brandt took off from the company's Eastern Arizona farm in San Simon at 2:30 p.m. Thursday and never arrived at the company's airstrip in Continental, south of Tucson, Walden said.

An experienced pilot with more than 5,000 hours over 25 years, Brandt made the flight routinely, once or twice a week, Walden said. Because of his experience and the lack of inclement weather, she said a health problem likely caused the crash, though an investigation hasn't been completed.

Born in Michigan and raised in Wyoming, Brandt had a passion for cattle ranching and big-game hunting, especially lions, and authored "Lucky Shot: Favorite Hunting Stories of an Arizona Sportsman."

He managed about 250 employees and another 50 seasonal farm workers in the pecan groves, which cover 5,600 acres south of Tucson.

"He treated everybody the same, whether it was a field hand or the president of the company," Walden said. "We called him our resident Will Rogers — he always had a joke or a story."

Brandt is survived by his wife of more than 25 years, Eileen; five children, Kelly, Tammy, Lisa, Julie and Allen; and several grandchildren.

The Civil Air Patrol began searching for Brandt's plane on Friday afternoon, narrowing the search area using cell-phone-tracking technology, said Maj. James Nova.

A team aboard a Civil Air Patrol plane spotted the wreckage at about 7:30 p.m. and a Department of Public Safety helicopter crew used its spotlight to determine that there were no apparent survivors.

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board arrived Saturday to begin investigating, said Deputy Dawn Hanke, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman.