A former executive for a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. apparently was among the victims of an American Airlines plane crash in Colombia last week.
Brian D. McMahon, former president of Carrier Corp.'s European and transcontinental operations and a former Avon resident, was on the American Airlines flight that crashed Wednesday 50 miles from Cali, Colombia, his aunt, Marie Willis, said Saturday. McMahon's father, Donald McMahon, is staying with the Willis family in Momence, Ill.
Only four of 164 passengers aboard the flight are reported to have survived.
"We do know that he was on that plane," Willis said. `'His wife, Marta was already there. His wife had relatives there. Every year, they have gone back to Cali for Christmas."
Marta McMahon had already been joined in Cali by one of the couple's twin sons, Michael, Willis said. The other twin, Patrick. lives in Australia, Willis said. v Marta McMahon had formed a search team with another woman, whose son was missing in the crash, to find the bodies of their relatives, The New York Tunes reported Saturday.
"My husband was coming from London to join us for Christmas," McMahon told the Times in an article published Saturday. "I can't find anything to remind me of him, not even his briefcase. I have spent a whole night here, hoping that the rescue teams can find something. But now, I cannot wait. I have spent seven hours on horseback looking for him-nothing. It is as if the forest had swallowed everything up."
The Boeing 757 flight out of Miami crashed into a mountain, and the crash site is accessible only by foot or by rope from a helicopter, making efforts to recover victims' bodies difficult, The Times reported.
McMahon was appointed president of Carriers' European and transcontinental operations in October 1989, said Jon Sandberg, a Carrier Corp. spokesman. He left Carrier in the summer or fall of 1992 to join the Sibee Group, a London-based company, Sandberg said. Willis said that McMahon was the president of that company.
McMahon had also served as president of Otis Elevator's Latin American operations; a subsidiary of UTC. McMahon had been a vice president at Otis and held vice president and genera; manager positions m Europe and Latin America at Inmont Corp.
McMahon received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA in industrial management from Valle University in Colombia, his aunt said.