BLOOMINGTON — A plane involved in a fatal crash earlier this week was owned by Synergy Flight Center LLC of Bloomington, the company confirmed Friday afternoon.

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk, carrying Synergy chief flight instructor Mitch Janssen and two passengers, crashed Tuesday morning onto a southbound lane of Interstate 55 just west of Lincoln. The plane was destroyed on impact and all three men perished.

Illinois State Police previously confirmed the flight had originated in Bloomington.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the accident. No vehicles on the ground were involved.

“Mitch was an extremely gifted pilot and an outstanding young man," said Synergy CEO Andrew Dustman. "He was a positive influence in the aviation community with his professionalism, dedication, and generosity. His love of aviation was an inspiration to all; he will be greatly missed.”

Authorities previously identified the victims as Janssen, 22, of Princeville; Matthew Hanson, 33, of Colorado; and Kevin Chapman, 30, of Urbana. Hanson and Chapman worked for different offices of the same environmental firm.

The four-seat, single-engine Cessna 172 crashed near where the highway crosses state routes 10 and 121, at 8:49 a.m. Tuesday.

Janssen's Facebook page identifies him as a pilot for Air Wisconsin and as a flight instructor for Synergy, 2823 E. Empire St., which offers flight training, aircraft maintenance and hangar space near the Bloomington airport.

Chapman was an ecologist with Shoener Environmental Inc., which has an office in Champaign. He earned his master’s degree from Utah State University in 2016, working as a graduate student researcher in the Fish Ecology Lab and studying ecology and watershed sciences.

Hanson was from Wisconsin but more recently lived in Fort Collins, Colo. His obituary listed degrees in biology and environmental science, and he wrote his thesis on bald eagles in the Everglades. His friends referred to him as a "bird nerd."

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