Girl’s 12th Birthday Surprise Ends in a Tragic Plane Crash

An experienced private pilot was attempting to surprise his 12-year-old daughter by dropping a birthday present for her from the sky when he crashed into a hill on Santa Catalina Island, police said Wednesday.

The pilot, Robert Harder Sr., 38, of Rossmoor, suffered head injuries in the Tuesday afternoon crash and was in critical but stable condition at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. His 15-year-old son, Robert Harder Jr., was pronounced dead at the scene, said Sheriff’s Deputy Hal Grant.

The plane’s third occupant, Jonathan Benzinger, 33, of Long Beach, was in serious condition at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, a hospital employee said.

Investigators from the National Transportation and Safety Board and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Aero Bureau were studying the wreckage Wednesday but had not determined what caused the single-engine Cessna Skyhawk to crash, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Davis.

Just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, Harder flew over Catalina’s Toyon Bay where his daughter, Lisa, was attending a summer camp run by the Catalina Island Marine Institute, police said.

A friend of Harder said the pilot had been planning to drop a package containing a stuffed animal for his daughter, who turned 12 on Tuesday.

Lisa was on the camp field near the beach but did not witness the accident, said Ross Turner, executive director of the marine institute. She was waiting on the field for something to happen but did not know what her father had planned, Turner said.

Eyewitnesses said they saw something drop from the plane before it disappeared into a canyon where the crash occurred, Avalon police said.

A woman at the family’s home, who said she is the girl’s grandmother but declined to give her name, said Lisa returned to the mainland Tuesday and was in a state of shock after learning about the accident.

The woman called the crash a tragedy and said: “We have a large family and lots of support.”

Ralph Morrow, a friend of Harder and also a pilot, said Harder is a regular at the Avalon airport and knows the island from the air and the ground. Morrow said Harder owns a gas station at Long Beach Airport and also repairs and maintains vehicles at a number of Catalina businesses.

Neighbors of the Harders said the family moved from Long Beach to Rossmoor in Orange County about three years ago.

Morrow described Harder as “a pretty dedicated father, a real stable family man.”

A plane crashes about once a year on the island, said Los Angeles Fire Capt. Rick Harp, who was at the scene Tuesday. “Frequently the plane flies too low and too slow” while viewing the scenery, Harp said. In hot weather, the air becomes thinner and makes it more difficult for a plane to lift out of a canyon, Harp said.

Harder’s plane slammed into the hillside, but it stayed in one piece and did not explode, said J. J. Poindexter, a volunteer paramedic with the Sheriff’s Catalina Rescue Team who responded to the emergency. The plane was resting about 200 feet above the floor of the canyon, Poindexter said.