Cause of Fatal Crash Remains Undetermined, Authorities Say

A vintage World War II-era plane that crashed into a canyon wall and killed two people this week had plenty of fuel and experienced pilots at the helm when it went down over a rugged area of the Angeles National Forest, a federal investigator said Wednesday.

Cause of the crash has not been determined, but a National Transportation Safety Board inspector said the two-seat AT-6 trainer was flying through heavy cloud cover, which might have masked the area’s high canyon walls.

But “at this point, we really don’t know enough to speculate about a cause,” federal investigator Wayne Pollack said.

The names of the men killed in the accident have not been released, but the victims were the plane’s owner and an Italian national who was a commercial pilot for Alitalia, Pollack said.

The owner was apparently giving the Italian flying lessons, he said. Because the plane could be flown from either seat, investigators do not know which man was in control.

The owner is believed to be a member of the Van Nuys-based Condor Squadron, a flying club whose members pilot vintage aircraft and operate a search-and-rescue service.

The plane crashed Monday afternoon about 15 minutes after it took off from Van Nuys Airport en route to William J. Fox Field in Lancaster, authorities said.

Witnesses said that before it crashed, the plane flew low over a residential area in Green Valley and that sound from its engine increased, possibly indicating that the craft was trying to climb, Pollack said.

Area residents also told investigators that the plane reversed its course from north to southwest as it approached the face of the canyon, meaning that the pilot saw the wall too late, Pollack said.

The plane was found in a rugged area of steeply rising hills about 500 feet above ground level. The canyon wall is about 1,000 feet high.

Pollack said that there was no evidence of mechanical problems beforehand and that neither man radioed that they were in danger.