2 Customs Pilots Killed in Crash : Plane Went Down Near Calexico During Routine Exercise

A U.S. Customs plane conducting a routine exercise crashed half a mile south of the U.S.-Mexico border Sunday night near Calexico, killing the pilot and co-pilot, U.S. Customs officials said Monday.

James D. Taylor, 41, and David Louie Crater, 33, both of San Diego, were flying their Cessna 441 Conquest twin-engine aircraft along the border to act as a reference point for radar detectors that had been moved to new sites on the ground, said Mike Fleming, a Customs spokesman for the Pacific Region in Los Angeles.

“The cause of the crash is to be determined pending formal investigation by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board,” Fleming said.

Disappeared From Radar

At 6:10 p.m. Sunday, Fleming said, the plane disappeared from Customs radar. However, he said losing sight of the plane was not unusual in these routine exercises, considering the area’s geography.

“This is a popular site for smuggling narcotics,” he said. “You have valley areas and mountains on both sides, and radar can ricochet off of them. Planes can fly through the valley and stay at low elevations . . . where radar can’t detect them.”

About half an hour after the plane was last seen on radar, officials tried unsuccessfully to re-establish contact with the plane. Customs officials then contacted local airports and the Federal Aviation Administration to determine if either had received distress signals from the aircraft. There were none.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent, who said he had spotted a flash in the sky west of Calexico about the same time contact with the plane was lost, led to a search of the area. At 10:30 p.m., a U.S. Customs helicopter from Riverside landed at the crash site, 13 miles southwest of the Calexico airport, and reported no survivors.

John Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs regional office in Los Angeles, said pilots do not fly on the Mexican side of the border without permission from the Mexican government. It was unclear whether the pilot had permission Sunday, Miller said. He said that the Mexican government has been “very cooperative” regarding the crash.

Taylor, the Cessna’s pilot, joined the Customs Service in 1977. Formerly a Navy pilot, Taylor is survived by a wife and two children in San Diego and a son in Orange County.

Crater joined U.S. Customs in April. Single and formerly of Oklahoma, he was living temporarily at the North Island Naval Air Station, where U.S. Customs is provided with space for an aviation branch. As U.S. Customs officials, Taylor and Crater handled the interdiction and apprehension of narcotics smugglers, as well as routine border checks and air interception training exercises.

The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting the crash investigation with Cessna aircraft representatives. Fleming said all Customs stations nationwide have been asked to fly their flags at half-staff through today.