Investigators Scout Plane Crash Site
Federal transportation investigators Sunday began looking into the cause of a plane crash that killed two North County men near a makeshift airstrip in a hilly area north of San Marcos.
A spokesman for the county Sheriff’s Department said investigators were on the scene Sunday morning. An official with the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles said the case is being handled by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Meanwhile, Deputy County Coroner Max Murphy identified the victims as George Allen Totten, 37, a self-employed pilot from Del Mar, and Ernest Leroy Bradford, 42, of Vista, a switchman for Pacific Bell.
The precise time of Saturday’s crash in the Twin Oaks Valley area was not known. Officials said it was discovered by a hiker passing through the rugged, inaccessible area about two miles north of Deer Springs Road.
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