Crashed Plane’s Wing May Have Hit Ocean During Turn

The crash of a private plane in the ocean off Malibu on Thursday night may have been caused by the pilot’s flying so low that a wing struck the water when he tried to turn, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s official said Friday.

Sheriff’s Capt. Vance Kirkpatrick said: “They definitely were flying too low for safety. . . . At night, your depth perception is poor, and he probably just got too low and hit the ocean.”

Two people, including the pilot, were rescued but two others vanished and were presumed drowned when the Piper PA-28 Warrior crashed into the sea about 9:15 p.m. All four passengers are from the San Fernando Valley area.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

Pulled From Water

The pilot, Roger Amiran, 23, of Burbank, told investigators the plane’s instruments showed that the craft was 200 feet above the water just before the crash, said Kirkpatrick, commander of air operations for the Sheriff’s Department.

A Coast Guard helicopter pulled Amiran and passenger Laurie Ann Thuer, 21, from the water, where they had become entangled in kelp while trying to swim ashore, Coast Guard spokesman James MacPherson said.

Amiran and Thuer, of Simi Valley, were rescued about 30 minutes after the crash and about 500 yards offshore near Malibu Colony, MacPherson said. Passengers John Harris of Northridge and Mathew Frey of Canoga Park, both 22, had disappeared by the time rescuers arrived. The plane sank shortly after impact, the Coast Guard said.

Searches Thursday night and Friday failed to locate the wreckage or the other passengers. Another search was to begin today.

The four had set out from Van Nuys Airport on a sightseeing flight about 8:30 p.m., Kirkpatrick said. They were returning to the airport along the Malibu coast after having flown over the Queen Mary ocean liner in Long Beach.

Amiran told authorities that he “made a bank turn to the left and, very suddenly, the plane pitched down and hit the ocean,” Kirkpatrick said.

The survivors told authorities that there were two thudding noises as the plane hit the water, and someone uttered a profanity. The plane slipped under the water almost immediately. Amiran said he thought he pushed someone out ahead of him through the door on the right side of the craft.

Pulled Toward Exit

Thuer, who was seated behind Amiran on the left side of the four-seat aircraft, said she felt someone trying to unfasten her seat belt, but she unfastened it herself as she felt someone pulling her toward the exit.

The survivors, clinging to a fragment of the airplane’s wing, shouted for their friends, who were not in sight.

Amiran told investigators that he twice dived underwater to look for the other passengers before he and Thuer began swimming toward shore.

A sheriff’s helicopter that happened to be flying in the area spotted the two and called for the Coast Guard helicopter. Investigators were trying to determine how passengers on the side next to the plane’s door were lost but those opposite the exit survived, Kirkpatrick said.

Amiran and Thuer were in good condition at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Kirkpatrick and an FAA spokesman said there is no evidence to corroborate witness accounts that a second aircraft was involved in the crash.