The State - News from March 22, 1987

Blood tests showed the pilot of a small plane that crashed near Interstate 5 in western Fresno County last weekend had more than two times the legal limit of alcohol in his system, officials said. Fresno County coroner’s deputies said tests showed that Ronald McLain, 37, of Visalia, had a blood alcohol level of .25% when he died in the crash near Coalinga. The legal limit, beyond which a person is considered drunk is .10%. McLain’s passenger, John L. Biancho, 44, of Visalia, who also died in the crash, had a blood alcohol level of between .09% and .13%, coroner’s deputies said. The plane crashed after hitting overhead power lines across the interstate, forcing closure of a five-mile stretch of the highway for more than 12 hours until utility crews could restring them. One unit of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant also was shut down.