Body Recovered From Crash Site

Ateam of rescue workers Tuesday recovered a body believed to be that of a Reseda pilot missing since Thursday, but a coroner’s spokesman said positive identification will have to be made through dental records.

David Newzil, 25, a pilot for Van Nuys-based Wings Express Inc., took off from Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix at 8:55 p.m. Thursday with a load of cargo and was due to arrive at Burbank Airport about 2 1/2 hours later, said Richard Childress, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. A witness called the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department about 10:30 p.m. to report a fireball in the San Jacinto Mountains.

Rescue workers reported seeing the wreckage of the plane on the north face of Mt. San Jacinto, near Palm Springs, late Saturday, but high winds Sunday and Monday prevented them from flying in by helicopter to recover the body.

Childress said weather did not appear to be a factor in the crash. Reports from that night indicate that the skies were clear.

“The aircraft appears to have flown straight level into” the mountain at a cruising speed of about 150 m.p.h. to 160 m.p.h., Childress said.

Newzil was an experienced pilot with more than 2,200 hours of flight time, and had flown the regularly scheduled route many times, said Gary Farrell, president of Wings Express. Newzil, who was married and had no children, had been with the company about six months, Farrell said.