3 Die When Plane Crashes Into Foggy Hill Near Camarillo

After three failed attempts to land at Camarillo Airport, three Ventura County residents died when their plane crashed into a fog-shrouded hillside near the Conejo Grade, authorities said Wednesday.

Pilot Hollis C. White, 58, of Camarillo and passengers Don Dicus, 51, of Camarillo and Kenneth D. McMillan, 37, of Thousand Oaks were returning home from a business and golf trip in Riverside County when the plane crashed shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday.

All three men in the six-seat single-engine Piper Saratoga died on impact, said investigators with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

White was the sales and marketing director of Oxnard Building Materials; Dicus was a salesman at the same company; and McMillan was president of Wall Systems Inc., a construction subcontractor in Moorpark. The three were flying back from Chino in Riverside County after a one-day trip to Temecula, family members said.

The pilot filed a flight plan and received a weather briefing upon leaving Chino Airport, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Hank Verbais.

Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station air traffic control reported the plane missing at 10:10 p.m. after three landing attempts at Camarillo Airport, Verbais said.

White’s first attempt to land was too low, Verbais said. The pilot aborted his second attempt for an unknown reason, and the plane was too far south of the airport the third time, he said.

The plane crashed near a gravel quarry five miles east of the Camarillo Airport about 1,000 feet above sea level amid fog and haze that limited visibility to four to seven miles, he said. The aircraft was discovered about 3 a.m. Wednesday by a helicopter with specialized night vision equipment and a ground crew from the Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Team.

“These things are pretty sad,” said Chris Spangenderg, who air-lifted the bodies from the rugged terrain.

White had worked for Oxnard Building Materials, a building supply company with eight stores in California and Arizona, for three years and flew on business trips four or five times a week, co-worker Dave Rogers said.

“He was basically on the move all the time,” Rogers said of White. “He was a real nice guy.”

White began taking flying lessons shortly after his discharge from the Air Force in 1964, where he had worked on ground approach, family members said. He also had been vice president of marketing for the Van Nuys division of International Telephone & Telegraph.

“He’s probably the most intelligent guy I’ve ever met,” Greg White said of his father. “He could figure anything out without reading it twice.”

Dicus had worked at Oxnard Building Materials for 13 years, said his son, Daric Dicus. Before that, he had been a lieutenant for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.

Dicus enjoyed golfing, fishing, and his job that carried him beyond Ventura County, family members said.

“He was a fun-loving person,” Daric Dicus said of his father. “He knew a lot of people. He’s going to be missed.”

McMillan started his construction company in 1985 with three business partners, said Vice President Frank Bass, who said he has known McMillan for 25 years.

“He was one of the nicest guys you ever met,” Bass said. “His whole family was sweet.”

McMillan is survived by his wife, Kathleen, and two daughters, Bass said.

White is survived by his wife, Angie, and sons Brian of Sacramento; Greg of Camarillo; and Evan of Fresno.

Dicus is survived by his wife, Diana, and three sons, Damon, Daric and Darian, all of Camarillo.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.

Times correspondent Patrick McCartney contributed to this story.