2 Die in Crash of Homemade Plane Into Sea

The bodies of two men were recovered from the wreckage of a small homemade plane that crashed in the Pacific Ocean off the Palos Verdes Peninsula on Saturday, a U.S. Coast Guard officer said.

Authorities identified one victim of the crash as James Reddick of Lomita. He was believed to be the pilot of the single-engine, two-seater aircraft that had taken off from Compton Airport, said Petty Officer Leo Kay. The identity of the other man was not known.

An off-duty Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic saw the plane go down about 3 p.m. about 4 miles south of Pt. Vicente. He reported the accident to Coast Guard officials, Kay said.

About a dozen Coast Guard officers, some aboard a helicopter, others on a 41-foot utility boat, began searching the area and recovered debris from the wrecked plane, Kay said.

The cause of the accident was not known, but weather was not believed to be a factor, Kay said, as the skies were fairly clear, with only patchy clouds, when the plane plunged into the water.