LEWISTON – The former chief pathologist at Central Maine Medical Center and founder of Silver Wings Aviation at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport was killed Monday when his kit-built airplane crashed on takeoff outside Hollywood, Fla.

The Associated Press reported that Douglas Pohl, 57, was killed when his single-engine Lancair IV-P crashed at the North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

According to police reports, the aircraft landed in a fireball on a fence along the small airport’s eastern perimeter. Witnesses said they saw the airplane leave the runway, bank left and crash nose-first into the ground.

The Broward County Medical Examiner’s office issued a statement Tuesday saying it was unable to positively identify the pilot after an autopsy.

However, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel quoted a family member as identifying Pohl as the crash victim, according to The Associated Press.

Larry Cappolino, a mechanic with an aviation company based out of North Perry Airport, said Pohl used the plane to get to work.

He recently replaced the plane’s engine with a motor taken from a Chevy Corvette.

“That’s a high-performance engine,” said Cappolino. “It can make a plane go 200 mph, plus.”

The accident was being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration, spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

Pohl served as CMMC’s chief pathologist from 1995 through 2005. He went on to found Silver Wings Aviation, an airplane service station at the Auburn airport, in 2006. He lived in Martin County, Fla., outside Palm Beach.

Dr. Michael Eng, a CMMC pathologist, recalled Pohl as a hard-working, personable colleague.

“He was the chief of the department, but he never acted that way,” Eng said. “He was a very real person and actually reached out to the other people here in the lab.”

Pohl was always interested in airplanes and airports. He began building his first experimental aircraft while he was in medical school. He joined the L-A airport board when he joined the staff at CMMC. He even manufactured engines for experimental aircraft for a time.

He founded Silver Wings in 2006, a year after leaving his post at CMMC, but Eng said Pohl had been working on that business for years.

“I remember him working to get doors put on the big hangar there, and apparently it was a gigantic job,” Eng said. “What was amazing was his ability to do both, to be so efficient. I don’t know how he managed to run a department and do all of that other stuff, but he did.”

Ed Plourde, chairman of the Auburn airport’s board of directors, said Pohl opened his pilot-service business after he stopped manufacturing engines. He continued to assemble aircraft, and had built the Lancair IV-P himself.

“He had done it some time ago, so he did feel comfortable with the aircraft,” Plourde said. “Plus, he was an excellent pilot.”

Pohl and his aircraft were involved in another accident in July 2001 in Fryeburg. According to National Transportation Safety Board records, the aircraft lost pressure when the pilot left a paper towel in the engine compartment. The paper blocked the craft’s air intake system.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.