5 dead in Catalina Island plane crash; investigation underway

Jireh Deng and Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times on Oct 9, 2024

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LOS ANGELES — Five people are dead after a twin-engine plane crashed on Catalina Island on Tuesday night, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Just after 8 p.m., deputies at the sheriff’s Avalon station on the island received a 911 emergency notification from a cellphone alerting them that the plane had been in a crash involving injuries and sent them GPS coordinates, the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

Crews from Avalon and the L.A. County fire and sheriff’s departments joined in a search and found the plane about a mile west of Catalina Airport, according to the release.

The Beechcraft 95 had departed the airport with five people on board moments before it crashed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Five adults were found dead at the scene; the coroner and other emergency personnel are currently flying in by helicopter to retrieve the bodies that are stranded on rough and steep terrain, the Sheriff’s Department said.

The National Weather Service said conditions near Catalina Airport the night of the crash were calm, clear and quiet. The temperature was in the balmy low 70s with light winds under 5 miles per hour and no fog.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

Catalina has been the site of several serious aviation crashes. In 2002, five people died when an aircraft slammed into a hillside on the island. Low visibility, light rain and mist caused the pilot to miss the runway at Catalina’s Airport in the Sky on the first try, officials said.

In 2008, three people were killed and three others were injured, two critically, when a sightseeing helicopter crashed near Two Harbors. The next year, three were killed when a tour airplane crashed in the rain.