Local News in Brief : Fullerton : Investigation Continues Into Crash Landing
An investigation continued Tuesday into what caused a Piper Cherokee to lose power and crash-land in a Buena Park street shortly after takeoff from Fullerton Municipal Airport on Monday, city spokeswoman Sylvia Palmer said.
A student pilot and his instructor walked away unhurt after their single-engine plane crash-landed after losing power at 400 feet and striking a utility line. Witnesses, who praised the pilot’s evasive action, said the plane missed a home by about 50 feet and plowed through a white picket fence.
Palmer said the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration advised the city Tuesday that they are “sifting through everything” to determine what caused the plane’s loss of power.
Neither agency could be reached for comment.
Pilot John Otey, 30, of Anaheim, and instructor Mike Simmon, 21, of Norwalk, are both with Aviation Facilities Inc., of Fullerton, Buena Park police said. “They are not making any comments to the press,” a company employee who answered the phone said.
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