Thomas Lombardo, 86, small aircraft expert

Ever since he was a boy, Thomas Peter Lombardo was fascinated by aircraft.

As a youngster in New York City in the 1930s, he occasionally would see the giant airships known as Zeppelins flying overhead.

Enlarge this image

Family photo

Thomas Peter Lombardo ran a consulting business that investigated crashes of noncommercial aircraft.

Mr. Lombardo earned a degree in aeronautical engineering at New York University, then joined the U.S. Army Air Forces, where he became a captain. During World War II, he was stationed in Africa and Egypt and was head of maintenance for the B-29 Superfortress, a heavy bomber.

He worked for an aviation company near the Atlanta airport during the 1950s, and in the 1960s started a consulting business that investigated crashes of corporate jets and other noncommercial aircraft.

That business, Lomtek Corp., was his passion until he retired at age 75 and dissolved the firm, said his son, Thomas Michael Lombardo of Atlanta. He was the sole proprietor. His wife, Lady Lombardo, was the secretary.

“He lived it. He ate, drank and slept it,” his son said. “My mother told many stories of how he would wake up in the middle of the night and ask for a pen and paper. Things would occur to him in his sleep that would help him figure out what had happened in a plane crash.”

Mr. Lombardo, 86, died of congestive heart failure Monday at his Atlanta home. The family held a private funeral service Thursday at Holy Spirit Catholic Church. Cremation Society of the South is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Lombardo’s wife died 43 days earlier.

As an air crash investigator, Mr. Lombardo spent a lot of time giving depositions or testifying in court. He would work for families who lost loved ones, or for airplane manufacturers. As an investigator, he took his own photographs. He owned the finest cameras, including Leicas and Rolleiflexes, his son said.

He didn’t discuss the gruesome details of air crashes with his family. But he did tell them about the time he was investigating a crash in the Florida Everglades and his boat broke down. He was in his 60s and had to walk through the alligator-infested swamp in the dark, the younger Lombardo said.

When he wasn’t working, Mr. Lombardo loved to go boating. He would take his cabin cruiser out with his family on Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona, his son said.

In addition to his son, he is survived by two daughters, Lady Kim Lombardo and Deborah Turner Sackner, both of Atlanta; and three grandchildren.