Woodland Hills Man Killed by Plane’s Propeller

A Woodland Hills man was fatally injured Sunday when he was struck in the head by the spinning propeller of an unoccupied airplane moving out of control on the ground at Camarillo Airport, authorities said.

The man, Jules Leon, 53, had been attempting to hand-start the experimental Pitts plane with another man about 11:20 a.m. when the engine started and the craft went out of control, said Lt. Bob Gockel of the Ventura County sheriff’s office.

“As near as we can tell, the engine over-revved,” Gockel said. “Their initial response was to grab the plane and try to stop it.”

The plane had jumped over two restraining blocks and was moving across the aircraft parking apron toward a nearby hangar when the men grabbed on, Gockel said. The plane dragged them toward the hangar. The plane’s left wing then struck the hangar and the craft changed direction.

“It turned and one man was knocked to the ground and the other was struck by the propeller,” Gockel said. The plane was finally stopped when it moved into an open hangar and crashed into the rear wall.

Leon was taken to Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, where he died at 5 p.m., a nursing supervisor said. The other man, whose identity was unavailable, was not injured.