Local News in Brief : Airborne Commuter Dies in Plane Crash
A 65-year-old pilot who had planned to retire this week from his job as a toolmaker was killed when his light plane crashed in Lake View Terrace, authorities said Monday.
The body of Merlin Thomas Glass, 65, of San Jacinto was found after the wreckage of his single-engine Gruman was spotted at 7:40 a.m. on the side of a hill at the Lopez Canyon Landfill, Los Angeles police said.
Glass had been commuting each week from his home in Riverside County to a temporary job at Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Co., according to his wife, Gail. He had left Ryan Field in Hemet shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday en route to Burbank Airport, police said.
A pilot for more than 50 years, Glass had for years traveled by air to temporary jobs in the Los Angeles area, his wife said.
“He was going to retire from work at the end of this week, believe it or not,” she said. “I wish now it had been last week.”
The cause of the crash about 6 miles northwest of Burbank Airport was under investigation.
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