Plane Crash-Lands in Vacant Lot

A single-engine plane was forced to land in an undeveloped lot in a Woodland Hills housing tract after losing power Saturday, but the three occupants walked away uninjured.

“I’m a hell of a pilot, but I consider myself pretty lucky,” said Dan Spindler, 55, a Canoga Park lamp designer who was flying from Van Nuys to Santa Barbara on a business trip when the engine failed.

Also in the plane were Helen Baudistel, 27, and Rebecca Holt, 33, both of Santa Monica, who Spindler said were clients.

He had taken off from Van Nuys Airport at 11:45 a.m. and had climbed to about 4,500 feet “when the engine just died,” Spindler said. “I don’t know what happened. I had a full tank of gas when I started.”

He said he tried unsuccessfully to restart the engine, then looked around for a safe place to land.

“It was difficult because there was a lot of cloud cover,” he said. “Finally I found a hole and dropped through.”

The control tower at Van Nuys Airport told him his only option was to find a flat place to land.

He managed to set the plane down in a lot near County Oak Road and Paseo La Vista in Woodland Hills, Spindler said. One of its tires was ripped off in the crash, but the plane landed upright and skidded only about 20 feet, he said.

“The women were great,” he said. “They didn’t say a word through all of this. Maybe they were too scared.”

Baudistel, an interior designer from Santa Monica, said tears streamed down her face as she sat quietly in her seat, nervous and afraid.

“I thought we were going to die,” she said. “It was very terrifying, knowing that there wasn’t a thing you could do about it.

“But I’m not the type that gets hysterical.”

The lot is near several homes that are still under construction.

Spindler said that he did not know what happened to the plane, but that it was “totaled” and would probably be sold for scrap metal.

The accident, however, will not discourage him from flying.

“Of course I’ll continue,” Spindler said. “It’s the safest way to go.”