Plane Crash in Fullerton Injures Pilot, Passengers

A small plane stalled on approach to Fullerton Municipal Airport on Friday and hit a telephone pole before crashing on a public road 100 yards short of the runway. The pilot and his passengers suffered minor injuries.

Robert P. Kelly, 59, of Anaheim Hills, and Mary DeGuelle, 37, of Westminster, were pulled from the wreckage by several people who had raced to the scene of the accident on Artesia Avenue.

Kelly had taken DeGuelle on an aerial photography assignment for the Orange County Sheriff’s Deparment, a department spokesman said. DeGuelle is a forensic specialist for the department. Kelly is a captain in the Sheriff’s Reserve Aero Squadron.

Witnesses described the rescue of the two as harrowing.

“There was gasoline all over the place so I wanted to get him out of there,” said Ray Lara, who pulled Kelly out of the wreckage. “He had crawled out, but only half way because his feet were caught on something.”

With the help of an unidentified man, Lara managed to free Kelly’s feet and pulled him out of the cockpit while two other people rescued DeGuelle.

The two were were taken by paramedics to St. Jude’s Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Fullerton where they were listed in stable condition. No other people were injured. Traffic was light on the road at the time of the 10:45 a.m. crash.