Local News in Brief : Woodland Hills Couple Killed in Plane Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash Tuesday in Northern California of a twin-engine Beechcraft in which a Woodland Hills couple died, authorities said.

John Gerlach Jr., 59, and his wife, Darlene, 52, died when the airplane crashed and burned on a small airfield southwest of Santa Rosa as family members watched, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Gary Zappa said.

The plane was leaving the airfield for Lake Tahoe, where the couple planned to spend several days after visiting Darlene Gerlach’s mother in the Santa Rosa area for her birthday, said Elaine Taylor, Gerlach’s secretary at his law practice in Van Nuys. The Gerlachs had left Van Nuys Airport Monday in the plane they owned, she said.

Witnesses reported that, after the plane took off, it turned back toward the runway at a low altitude, Zappa said.

“As the aircraft came over the runway, the left wing was low and the pilot was unable to get the wing up,” Zappa said. “The wing hit and the aircraft cartwheeled into the ground, catching fire immediately afterward.”

The Associated Press reported that several witnesses saw what appeared to be a fuel leak as the plane took off. After the crash, the witnesses said they saw a frantic woman at the accident scene shouting, “My daughter’s in there. . . . Please do something, those are our children,” the news service reported.