1 Dead, 1 Rescued in Plane Crash at Sea
A passing boat rescued the pilot of a single-engine airplane that crashed into the ocean off Seal Beach Sunday, but a passenger was trapped in the submerged wreckage and died, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department reported.
Pilot Charles Mahan, 56, of Los Angeles, was released from Los Alamitos Medical Center after treatment for minor injuries he suffered when his two-seat Citabria aerobatic plane crashed shortly after noon about a mile southeast of Seal Beach Pier.
Divers subsequently recovered the body of passenger John Therieau, 50, of Westlake Village, from the cockpit of the Citabria, 45 feet beneath the surface near Chevron’s Oil Island Esther.
The wreckage remained on the ocean floor overnight, with a buoy to mark its position, pending retrieval and investigation of the crash by the National Transportation and Safety Board.
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