Two Doctors Walk Away From Plane Crash

Watching as a crane lifted a small airplane off a shop’s roof Thursday morning, Dr. Rocky Weber explained why he had only reluctantly accepted his partner’s offer to fly him to a medical convention.

“I was afraid I would crash,” Weber said.

His fear became reality when the plane piloted by Dr. Michael Banchi lost power and crashed through the roof of a car stereo installation shop only 150 yards from the Long Beach Municipal Airport.

Finding themselves hanging upside down inside the aircraft, the two Long Beach gynecologists jumped out and walked away uninjured from the 8:30 a.m. crash. Three workers inside the Car Sound Co. also escaped injury.

Banchi, 39, of Cypress, and a pilot for more than 10 years, said his single-engine plane lost power at 1,200 feet as it approached the runway on a return trip from Las Vegas.

Weber, 39, of Rancho Palos Verdes, said Banchi remained cool.

“He said: ‘We’re losing power.’ I said, ‘Huh?’ Then he said, ‘We’re really losing power.’ I knew from his tone of voice we were in trouble.

“He flies all the time and I never did (in a small plane) because I was afraid. He’s asked me before but I wouldn’t. Even my wife said don’t. (But then) I said, ‘This isn’t going to hurt,’ ” Weber said.

“I did not think about dying,” Weber said. “I thought, ‘OK, we’re going to crash, so I better get out of here. . . .’ It happened quickly. I was more scared taking off; coming down was quicker.”

The plane first struck a light pole at Willow Street and Clark Avenue, then crashed nose first through the roof of the car stereo shop, Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector Linda Silvertooth said.

The intersection became a popular spot Thursday morning for gawkers as well as physicians, medical assistants and even a patient of the two doctors.

A medical assistant for the doctors, Krystin Curtin, said she “didn’t believe it at first, because Dr. Weber said he was so afraid of flying he wouldn’t go. . . .”

But the next time his partner wants a flying buddy, the answer will be different. “I’m never going to fly” again, Weber said.