The State - News from Oct. 13, 1988

A single-engine private plane crashed into the side of a hill in Santa Barbara County shortly after the pilot asked for landing instructions. All three people aboard were killed. The pilot was identified as Theodore Talbot Culpepper, 67, of San Luis Rey Downs in San Diego County. One passenger was identified as Raymond Kawano, 50, of Oceanside. Identification of the second passenger was withheld pending notification of relatives. Culpepper had asked Santa Maria Airport for instrument flight rule landing instructions, but sheriff’s deputies said it was not clear whether he was flying by instruments. The plane crashed in heavy fog, about five miles southeast of the airport. Deputies said the passengers had hired Culpepper to fly them to Santa Maria on agricultural business.