4 Die as Van Nuys-Based Plane Crashes

Four people were killed when a single-engine plane crashed in a mountainous area of Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County after the pilot radioed controllers to complain of heavy fog, authorities said Sunday.

The Piper Cherokee had been rented from Westwinds Aviation in Van Nuys and was returning to Van Nuys Airport when it crashed Saturday night after a day trip to Santa Barbara, sheriff’s Deputy Troy Marino said. There were no survivors.

Names of the victims were withheld pending notification of relatives. The pilot was a 20-year-old man from the Agoura area, said Tim Gracey, a Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department spokesman. The ages and hometowns of the other victims were not being released, he said.

The pilot sent out a distress call about 9 p.m. Saturday to air traffic controllers at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station in Ventura County, saying he was approaching a fog bank, Marino said.

“Shortly thereafter, the pilot called and requested a turnaround back to Santa Barbara,” the deputy said. “That was the last message from the aircraft.”

There were low areas of patchy fog around Point Mugu, with six miles of visibility Saturday night, said Jerry Acosta, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

A search team found the aircraft about 8 a.m. Sunday on 3,500-foot Noon Peak in the Santa Ynez Mountains, about five miles north of Carpinteria, Marino said.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the crash.