HUNTINGTON BEACH : Cessna Pilot Dies in Crash After Takeoff

A Huntington Beach insurance broker piloting a small, private plane crashed and died Sunday morning in Sacramento shortly after takeoff, authorities said.

Just minutes before, Gary Kent Mazelli, 42, of Huntington Harbour had signaled for help from the control tower because of poor visibility.

Mazelli was an avid sportsman who owned his own insurance firm in Tustin and was active in helping organize prep football all-star games.

He was en route to Long Beach Municipal Airport in a drizzle and fog when the Cessna 210 he was piloting went down, authorities said.

Two joggers witnessed the crash in a field 200 yards east of the Interstate 5, near Sacramento Executive Airport, authorities said. The joggers flagged down a truck to get help, but it was too late to save Mazelli, officials said.

“He was the only one in the plane, and it was fatal,” said an officer with the Sacramento Police Department. “The plane went down in a field, so luckily it missed the freeway.”

According to Sacramento Deputy Coroner David Santos, Mazelli put out a radio call to the airport control tower at 10:48 a.m. asking for a different flight pattern to Long Beach because of “poor visibility.” Two minutes later, the plane crashed in the field.

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the crash to determine an official cause.

Victoria Mazelli, Mazelli’s wife and mother of their 3-year-old son, Ryan, said she doesn’t think pilot error could have been responsible for the crash and will anxiously await the results of the officials’ investigation.

Mazelli called her Sunday morning within an hour of takeoff, saying “it was foggy so he was going to fly above the fog where it was clear and fly home,” Victoria Mazelli said.

“He was an excellent pilot--never took risks,” she said. “He always used to say, ‘You don’t mess with Mother Nature.’ He loved to fly. He felt free up there, a real sense of accomplishment.”

She said Mazelli started flying gliders about four years ago and then moved on to power planes, often taking his young son up with him. Father and son flew together as recently as a month ago, she said.

The flight was a pleasure trip, Victoria Mazelli said. Gary Mazelli had flown to Oakland and then Sacramento to see friends and was on his way back Sunday. He was using a plane owned by the Cal State Flying Club at Long Beach, she said.

Mazelli, a native of Pittsfield, Mass., was also an active duck hunter, fisherman, tennis player and sportsman, Victoria Mazelli said. He had helped to publicize annual prep all-star charity games for prep football players in the South Bay area as well.