Officials Identify Three Victims of Air Crashes Near Van Nuys Airport

Three of the six victims of one of Saturday’s fatal plane crashes near Van Nuys Airport were identified Sunday.

The pilot of the twin-engine plane that crashed at 5:30 p.m. was Dr. Stanley Z. Daniels, 56, of Granada Hills, the coroner’s office said. Officials said Daniels was a Federal Aviation Administration medical examiner who certified pilots as physically fit to fly.

Daniels and his five passengers were killed when the Cessna 320 crashed in a field near the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, 1 1/2 miles from the airport runway.

The coroner’s office identified only two of the passengers Sunday. They were Donald Stern, 55, of Granada Hills and Bertran Stern, 47, of Mountain View.

On Landing Approach

Audrey Schutte, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said the plane was apparently on a landing approach at the time of the crash. She said officials hope to have more information today after they have listened to tapes of the conversations between the Van Nuys Airport tower and Daniels.

One Van Nuys Airport police official Sunday called it “probably the worst air disaster day” in the facility’s history.

Two hours before the Cessna crashed, a French-made Socata TB20 Trinidad skimmed over heavy traffic on Roscoe Boulevard, smashed into a curb and exploded in flames about 200 yards short of the northern end of the Van Nuys Airport runway.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said medical examiners were having difficulty identifying the body of the pilot, who was flying solo. Police described him only as a “28-year-old white male.”

The cause of the Trinidad crash is under investigation. Witnesses reported that the small, single-engine aircraft was flying behind a huge C-130 military transport. Michael Spenser of the FAA said it was conceivable that the wind drift from the military plane could have caused the tiny Trinidad to flip over. Smaller planes are supposed to fly above large aircraft, Spenser pointed out.

But Schutte added that it could take several days before investigators can determine what caused the two planes to crash in Van Nuys on Saturday.

About 8:30 a.m., two people were killed and two seriously injured when their Piper Cherokee crashed after an aborted landing at Chino Airport. After touching down on the runway, the pilot radioed a Mayday distress signal before the aircraft crashed, said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Danny Scaturro. It appeared as if the plane suffered a complete power failure, he said.

Passengers Gary D. Lahring, 55, and Curtis C. Lahring, 20, both of Ft. Huachuca, Ariz., were killed. Another passenger, Dennis Hamilton, also of Ft. Huachuca, suffered head and chest injuries. He was in good condition at Pomona Valley Community Hospital.

Stable Condition

The pilot, Arizona resident Kenneth Kirfman, suffered multiple injuries and was reported in stable condition in the intensive-care unit at the same hospital, officials said.

About 15 minutes earlier, a hot-air balloon crashed in Temecula, 35 miles south of Riverside, killing Leon Flanagan, 60, of Huntington Beach, and Dale Cron, 60, of Perris. Authorities said their balloon struck a power line, severing the gondola, which fell about 30 feet to the ground. Passenger Thomas Benson, 53, of Montebello, was reported in critical condition with head and internal injuries at Riverside General Hospital.

Federal aviation authorities were investigating both crashes.