1 of 2 Pilots Identified in Chino Hills Air Collision

Authorities investigating the mid-air collision and crash of two small planes in the Chino Hills identified one of the dead pilots Sunday as a Costa Mesa man, but the second pilot remained unidentified.

“Just the two pilots were killed,” San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Stodelle said, adding that neither craft carried passengers.

Alfred Herndon, 70, a retired Orange County real estate salesman, was returning to Chino Airport in his single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza when the plane collided with a twin-engine Piper Comanche at about 3 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

The second pilot, who was apparently returning to Fullerton Municipal Airport from Chino, was burned beyond recognition and could not be positively identified until a check of dental charts today, said John McFarland, a San Bernardino County deputy coroner.

Investigators at the scene from the National Transportation and Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have yet to determine what caused the crash, authorities said. Both aircraft were flying under visual flight rules, a FAA spokesman said.

Wreckage to Be Removed

Wreckage of both aircraft, which fell to the earth about a quarter mile apart, was to be removed from a rugged canyon area in the hills near the intersection of San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties today for study by federal investigators.

Herndon, who left the Chino airport at 2:26 p.m. for a short flight, radioed the airport tower at 2:48 p.m. that he was returning, Stodelle said. The tower could not reach him on the radio three minutes later to report a runway change.

“That’s when we believe he went down,” Stodelle said.

Herndon was an experienced pilot who had flown for 25 years, his widow, Margaret, said Sunday.

“He loved life and loved that plane,” she said. “I hated it.”

Her husband had driven to Chino on Saturday from their Costa Mesa home to take the airplane up for a “quick spin,” she said. “He had a zest for life and lived it to the fullest. I’m sorry he’s gone.”