Lake Forest Couple in Plane Survive Crash

A private plane carrying a Lake Forest couple plummeted hundreds of feet when the engine quit as they were approaching a Las Vegas airport, the pilot and authorities said.

Twelve-year pilot Rocco DeRobertis and Patricia DeRobertis were taken from McCarran International Airport to University Medical Center in Las Vegas with minor injuries after the 11:55 a.m. crash, an airport spokesman said.

Patricia DeRobertis, 52, was listed in stable condition with a cut on her face, a nursing supervisor said.

Rocco DeRobertis, 50, who was treated for some cuts and bruises, was released from the hospital and recounted the incident from his mother’s Las Vegas home.

He said he had recently spent $15,000 on a new engine for his 1979 Piper Cherokee Arrow. He was about 600 feet above the ground when he felt the engine sputter and quit, he said.

Thinking he did not have time to reach the runway, he quickly searched the ground for a spot to land that was clear of people or vehicles, he said.

“I figure I’m gonna kill me before I kill someone else,” he said.

Losing altitude as he continued flying, DeRobertis guided the plane over a dirt area about a quarter of a mile away from the runway, airport spokesman Samuel Ingalls said.

After the plane crashed to the ground and came to a stop, DeRobertis said, two unidentified men ran to the aircraft’s sides to yank open the doors that were jammed shut.

“I could have lost my life and my wife,” he said. “I just reacted right or we would have been dead.”

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash, DeRobertis and Ingalls said.