Congressman’s Friends Killed in Plane Crash
Federal investigators searched for clues Saturday in a plane crash that killed two Southern California residents.
A Simi Valley man who was a business partner and friend of Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) was killed along with his girlfriend Friday when their twin-engine plane crashed in a pasture near Reno Cannon International Airport in Nevada during a snowstorm.
Michael B. Schweitzer, 50, was piloting the Cessna 414 when it landed in a field short of the runway, hit some cattle and a haystack and burst into flames shortly after 2 p.m. The plane had just taken off when Schweitzer told the control tower that he wanted to return to the airport because snow was limiting visibility.
Schweitzer and his passenger, Michal E. Rothschild, 47, of Thousand Oaks, died in the crash.
Gallegly’s wife, Janice, said the couple knew Schweitzer for many years and her husband had conducted at least 30 real estate deals with Schweitzer’s company.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
