Federal authorities to investigate fatal plane crash in Beverly Crest area
By IRIS SALEM
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LOS ANGELES, California (KCAL, KCBS) — Federal authorities are expected to begin their investigation Sunday into the circumstances surrounding a fatal plane crash in the Beverly Crest area.
Crews located the plane on a steep hillside above a home in the 3000 block of Beverly Glen Circle just before 11:30 p.m. Saturday. The pilot, the sole occupant of the plane, was pronounced dead at the scene.
No other deaths were reported. The single-engine Cessna C172 was recovered hours after it was reported missing. Witnesses in the area described the crash as sounding similar to a “bomb.”
“We did hear it. It was behind us, not in front of us,” said one resident. “Like a big bomb. It was very, very loud and we could feel some vibrations as well.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department was first notified of the possibly downed single-engine aircraft just before 8:10 p.m., after air traffic control lost contact with the pilot near Stone Canyon Road and Muholland Drive. Crews searched a “large swath of mountainous territory” near Beverly Crest for hours before the plane was located at around 11:30 p.m.
The plane was believed to be flying between Santa Monica Airport and Van Nuys Airport when signal was lost. It crashed at around 8:45 p.m. Saturday.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate.
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