Plane Crash Onto Freeway Kills 3 Aircraft Workers

A quick gambling jaunt to Nevada for three McDonnell Douglas workers ended in death early Saturday when their single-engine Cessna clipped a power line tower and smashed onto the Pomona Freeway in South El Monte.

No one on the ground was injured in the 2:45 a.m. crash, which occurred about 12 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, the California Highway Patrol said.

The county coroner’s office identified the victims as Orville Stoll III, 33, of Buena Park; Vu Hoang, 26, of Huntington Beach, and Mahmoud Abulkheir, 30, of Long Beach.

Orville Stoll Jr., Stoll’s father, said the group had flown to Bullhead City, Ariz., on Friday afternoon to spend several hours gambling in Laughlin, Nev., just across the Colorado River from Bullhead City. Stoll’s father added that the three planned to fly back later that night to Fullerton Airport.

Traffic was snarled for hours as crews worked to repair sagging power lines hanging over the freeway. There was no damage reported to the tower and no lines were felled. The closed two-mile stretch of freeway, between Santa Anita Avenue and the San Gabriel River Freeway, was opened in both directions about 11 a.m.

Officials said the Cessna 172 appeared to be headed northeast when it struck the top of a 150-foot tower, sundering its engine and propeller. The crumbled wreck of the plane skidded across three eastbound lanes of the freeway, smashing into the center divider. The engine landed in brush near an on-ramp. There was no fire.

One of the passengers was freed alive from the wreckage and taken to Greater El Monte Community Hospital, where he died a short time later, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, including why the plane was heading northeast and why it was flying so low.

Stoll’s father said the three men worked together at McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach.

Stoll said his son, an engineer and computer programmer, was the pilot of the plane, which he bought shortly after he started flying about five years ago.

The elder Stoll said his son had been very safety conscious since a automobile crash several years ago.

“People wanted to fly with him,” Stoll said. “He’s been very careful with everything, especially with flying.”

Had It Inspected

About a month ago, Stoll said, his son, who lived at home with his parents, had the plane inspected and had some minor work done on it.

CHP Sgt. Mike Brey said the crash could have turned out worse.

“We’re just glad the plane didn’t crash on a weekday during rush hour traffic,” he said. “If this had been a weekday, there might have been some motorists involved.”

Elsewhere in the state, a single-engine Cessna 152 crashed in steep hills about eight miles southwest of San Luis Obispo Airport on Friday night, killing both people aboard, authorities said Saturday. The crash is under investigation.