Men Who Died in Plane Crash Identified

Two people who died in a plane crash in the Tehachapi Mountains have been identified as veteran pilot Desmond Emerson McCarthy of Palmdale and college instructor Arthur Aurand of Quartz Hill, Kern County coroner’s officials said Monday.

McCarthy, 69, and his student, Aurand, 48, disappeared Thursday night in McCarthy’s single-engine Cessna 172 about 24 miles northwest of Lancaster, authorities said.

McCarthy had taken off from Fox Field in Lancaster for a nightly trip to Bakersfield, where he flew bank records as part of a taxi business, a Civil Air Patrol spokesman said. He also offered flight instruction as part of the business he started 20 years ago. He enjoyed teaching people how to fly more than anything else, said his daughter, Tina Heikkinen.

McCarthy was joined on the flight by Aurand, a student pilot, who taught political science and California history for 23 years at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster.

There was heavy cloud cover along the flight path they are believed to have followed. Wreckage of a plane matching the description of the missing aircraft was sighted late Friday at the 7,500-foot level of an 8,000-foot peak, authorities said.

A 15-person team hiked to the wreckage Saturday morning, intending to carry the bodies down the mountain, said Kern County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Claudia Fivecoat. But the treacherous terrain halted them, Fivecoat said.

The crew camped overnight and a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s helicopter lifted the bodies out Sunday, Fivecoat said.

On Monday, friends and families of the two men made preparations for memorial services.

“It’s just a real shock,” said Steve Standerfer, a spokesman for Antelope Valley College, where flags flew at half-staff.

The college will hold a memorial service for Aurand on Wednesday from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the gymnasium at 3041 W. Ave. K, Standerfer said.

A memorial service will be held for McCarthy the same day at 11 a.m. in front of the administration building at Fox Field, Heikkinen said.