Former Santa Monica mayor dies in small plane crash on beach
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Officials say a former mayor of Santa Monica, California, died after a small plane crash-landed and flipped upside down on a beach in the coastal community. Rex Minter was a passenger in the single-engine Cessna that took off from Santa Monica Airport en route to Malibu on Thursday. The pilot was taken to a hospital. The City of Santa Monica and current Mayor Gleam Davis have separately confirmed Minter’s death. KCBS-TV reports the pilot reported engine trouble and tried to return to the airport but then decided to make an emergency landing on the beach. The plane hit the water at the shoreline and flipped over south of the Santa Monica Pier.