Pilot Crash-Lands on Freeway Overpass
Federal investigators said Monday they will try to determine what caused an engine failure that forced the pilot of a small plane to make a crash landing Sunday on a freeway overpass in Sun Valley, injuring himself and a passenger when the aircraft clipped a light pole and grazed a car.
The pilot and passenger were identified by Los Angeles police as Robert Gaugenmaier, 62, and his wife, Judith, 50, of Studio City. The single-engine Cessna 182 they were in crash-landed at 4 p.m. on the Sunland Boulevard overpass above the Golden State Freeway, police said.
The Gaugenmaiers were both in stable condition Monday at Pacifica Hospital of the Valley. Nursing supervisor Judy Fischer said both suffered back injuries and cuts and bruises.
Authorities said the plane was heading from Sedona, Ariz., to the Burbank airport but went down shortly after Robert Gaugenmaier reported to the tower that he thought he was having engine problems.
The plane clipped a light pole before it crashed onto the roadway, grazing a 1978 Cadillac Seville carrying a woman and her two children, who were not hurt, said Sgt. Phil Butler.
Jim Wall of the National Transportation Safety Board said his office will handle the investigation.
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