1 Critically Hurt : Dentist Dies, 3 Are Injured as 2 Planes Collide

A Ventura dentist was killed and three people were injured, one critically, in a collision Friday between two small private airplanes flying north of Oxnard.

Donald Waldman, 35, died of head injuries after the Cessna 172 he was piloting hit a second plane, then crashed into a field about 5 miles northwest of Camarillo Airport shortly before 10:30 a.m., said Lt. Lou Combs of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

A passenger on that plane, Ernie Strong, 45, was taking flight lessons from Waldman, Combs said. Strong is listed in critical condition at the Ventura County Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said. Waldman worked part time as an instructor.

The second plane, also a Cessna 172, landed safely in Camarillo, Combs said. The pilot, Robert Bruce, 38, and an adult passenger, Mike Creadick, both of Camarillo, suffered minor injuries, he said.

2 Sons Were Uninjured

Both men were treated at Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo and released, Combs said. Two of the men’s sons, Kevin Bruce and Ryan Creadick, both 5, were also aboard the craft but were uninjured, he said.

None of the survivors was available for comment Friday. Marianne Bruce, 32, wife of the surviving pilot, said her husband told her he did not see the other aircraft before the collision.

The crash damaged the propeller and engine cowling of Bruce’s craft and broke out the windshield, Marianne Bruce said.

“He just followed the steps that he was taught as far as emergency procedures,” she said. “I just thank God that he was able to land the aircraft and bring everybody home safely.”

The tail section of the plane flown by Waldman was found about half-a-mile west of the main wreckage, officials said.

Officials of the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, a Federal Aviation Agency spokesman said.

Strong and Waldman, a certified flight instructor with Channel Islands Aviation of Camarillo, left Camarillo Airport about 9 a.m., flight school director Al Hauth said.

Strong, a certified pilot, was being instructed in instrument navigation, he said.

Waldman was a practicing dentist and had worked about three days a week for the school since August, Hauth said. “Flying was not a hobby for him” and he “treated it as a full-time profession,” Hauth said.

Waldman has two small children and his wife is pregnant with a third child, Hauth said.

The plane that landed safely left Santa Paula Airport with four aboard minutes before the collision, sheriff’s spokesman Combs said. Marianne Bruce said the group had no particular destination in mind. She said her husband had been a licensed pilot for about five years.