CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : LAKE ELSINORE : Woman Killed on Birthday Flight

A 32-year-old woman who was taking an airplane ride given to her for a birthday present was killed Thursday along with the pilot of a single-engine stunt plane when the craft crashed into Lake Elsinore in Riverside County as the woman’s husband and children looked on, authorities said. Witnesses said the 78-year-old pilot, from Fallbrook, and his passenger apparently drowned after the crash when they were unable to remove their seat belts after the 4 p.m. crash. Neither the woman, from Lake Elsinore, nor the pilot was immediately identified. “It was a birthday present for her,” said Riverside County Sheriff’s Detective Henry Sawicki. “We’re not sure just what happened, but he was up there flying and he just suddenly went into the water.” Malcolm Haskell, manager of Lake Elsinore’s Skylark Airport and a friend of the pilot, said, “I think he just had a heart attack up there and went into a spin because he’s too good a pilot to have gone into a spin otherwise.”