Pilot Skimmed Ocean Before Fatal Crash, Survivor Says

A survivor of a small-plane crash in which two passengers were killed testified Friday that the pilot guzzled a beer shortly before takeoff, and later flew so low over the ocean that “it was as if you were on a boat and could just stick your feet in the water.”

Laurie Anne Thuer, 22, of Simi Valley, said the last words she remembers April 9 before the rented Piper Cherokee Warrior hit the ocean off the coast of Malibu was the pilot saying, “Look, water on the wing tip. Look, we’re so close we can get water on the wing tip.”

Seconds later, she said, the plane dipped, hit the ocean twice and started to fill with water.

“I didn’t feel anyone moving around me,” Thuer said. “I sat back and just waited to die.”

Murder Charges

Thuer testified in a preliminary hearing for the pilot, Roger Amiran, 24, of Encino, charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the nighttime drownings of passengers John Harris of Northridge and Mathew Frey of Canoga Park, both 22. Amiran is free on $5,000 bail.

The district attorney’s office dropped an additional charge of drunk flying Friday morning because a blood sample taken from Amiran after the 9:12 p.m. crash has been lost, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lonnie A. Felker said.

The sample was taken at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, then transported to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office where it was misplaced or destroyed, Felker said. It showed that Amiran’s blood-alcohol content measured 0.02 a few hours after the incident, and authorities concluded that it was 0.04 earlier when he was flying the plane, Felker said.

Federal regulations prohibit the consumption of alcoholic beverages eight hours before a flight, and a person is considered too intoxicated to fly if his blood-alcohol content measures 0.04.

Drinking Described

At the hearing before Los Angeles Municipal Judge Karl W. Jaeger, Thuer testified that she, Amiran, Harris and Frey were at the 94th Aero Squadron at the Van Nuys Airport and, 15 minutes before they left for a sightseeing flight to Long Beach, Amiran quickly drank a bottle of beer.

As the four-seat plane flew south over the Santa Monica Mountains, it quickly lost altitude, Thuer said. Amiran said at the time that the drop was “better than a free fall,” she testified.

“He was laughing about it,” she said.

Instead of heading directly back to Van Nuys after the plane circled the Queen Mary, she said the group decided to take a detour over the coast of Malibu. The crash occurred about 500 yards offshore, authorities said.

Plane Sank

As the plane started to sink, Thuer said, she was able to swim through an opening in its body to the surface where she saw Amiran. She said she never saw Harris or Frye again.

Thuer and Amiran were rescued by the Coast Guard 45 minutes after the crash and transported to the hospital where they were questioned by authorities.

Deputy David Kitchings, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Aero Bureau, testified Friday that during an interview after the crash, Amiran said he was flying at 200 feet when the plane--for no apparent reason--pitched downward.

It is unsafe to operate a plane below 500 feet at night, said Barry J. Schiff, a safety expert for the Federal Aviation Administration, who also testified at the hearing.

Flying at 200 feet is “extremely dangerous,” Schiff said, and tipping a wing into the water amounts to “a total disregard for safety and human life.”

At the time of the crash, authorities said, Amiran was a new pilot who had accumulated 100 hours of flight time. Forty hours is the minimum needed for a private license. Following the crash, Amiran’s license was revoked by the FAA.

The hearing was continued to May 27, when the judge will determine if there is enough evidence against Amiran to hold him for trial. If he is ordered held, Amiran’s attorney, Howard L. Weitzman, has asked that the murder charges be reduced to involuntary manslaughter.

If convicted of second-degree murder, Amiran could be sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.