Fatal Plane Crash Blamed on the Pilots : Santa Paula: Safety board’s investigation finds that neither airman saw the other when their aircraft collided over airport.

The National Transportation Safety Board has ruled that the failure of two pilots to see each other was to blame for a midair collision over Santa Paula last summer that destroyed two homes and killed one aviator.

But in a final report on the crash released Thursday, the agency also said glare from the setting sun and an incorrect flight path by the pilot who died contributed to the accident.

William Lewis Clark, a crop-duster from Buttonwillow, died Aug. 27 when the Cessna 182 he was piloting crashed into two homes across the street from Santa Paula Airport and burst into flame. Andrew Sinclair, a Santa Paula flight instructor at the controls of a Cessna 150, managed to land his lightly damaged craft safely.

Meanwhile, the ruins of two homes heavily damaged by the resulting fire remain on their rubble-strewn lots on Santa Clara Street, as the owners wait for compensation by insurance companies and the state.

Santa Paula Airport officials expressed little surprise at the safety board’s findings Thursday, and said they believed the accident would not have occurred if Clark had followed the correct flight path.

“Any time there’s a mid-air collision in clear weather, the safety board will blame the pilots. The visual flight rule is ‘see and be seen’,” said Bob Van Ausdell, a member of the airport’s safety committee.

But calling the board’s finding “an easy way out,” Van Ausdell blamed Clark’s unauthorized approach over the city for the accident.

“The non-standard right-hand turn by (Clark) was, in my opinion, the cause of the accident,” Van Ausdell said.

Because of damage from the fire, safety investigators were unable to determine whether Clark had his radio tuned to the airport’s common frequency. The frequency had been changed just one month before the accident, and Clark may not have been listening as Sinclair broadcast his flight path, according to safety investigator George Petterson.

While the safety board has concluded its investigation, the financial repercussions of the accident have yet to be resolved.

After the accident, homeowners Joe Garcia and Rafael Rodriguez applied to rebuild their rental properties, but were turned down by the county’s Airport Land Use Commission and the Santa Paula City Council.

The rejection came because Santa Paula in March acceded to a new state mandate creating a safety zone around the airport that bars new residences within 2,500 of each end of the runway.

In addition, the county had supported a bill by Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) to authorize the use of state funds to purchase property around private airports like Santa Paula’s.

But obtaining the funds has been no simple matter, said Ginger Gherardi, the head of the Ventura County Transportation Commission.

“The bill was sitting on the governor’s desk when the accident occurred,” Gherardi said. “We created a new law and now we’re the test case in the face of an accident instead of an orderly (buy-out) process.”

After attorneys for the county, state, Santa Paula and the airport ironed out the application procedure, the county decided to initiate a new request, she said. The Transportation Commission will consider the new request today.

At the same time, insurance companies for both pilots have been evaluating the case but have not yet offered to settle, Garcia said. His own insurance company paid $22,000 but wants to be compensated by the companies representing the two pilots, Garcia said.

In the meantime, Garcia said, members of his family have sought therapy because of nightmares. He said he is haunted by a dream in which he sees the trapped pilot calling for help as the fire consumes his plane.

Not receiving compensation for the damage to his house has made the pain worse, Garcia said.

“It’s almost as if we’re the guilty ones,” he said.