Tragic Air Crashes, Blast Left Their Marks in O.C.

In addition to fire and rain that plagued the county in 1993 came several disasters both startling and deadly:

* Two top executives of the In-N-Out Burger fast-food chain, a consultant to the company, and two veteran pilots died in the crash of a twin-engine corporate jet near the Santa Ana Auto Mall on Dec. 15. Investigators say the pilots may have lost control of the plane because of wake turbulence from a Boeing 757.

Richard A. Snyder, 41, president of the burger chain and a key philanthropist to conservative political causes, and his top assistant, Philip R. West, 37, apparently broke their own policy of never flying in the same plane. Also killed were Jack Sims, 47, a friend of Snyder and a consultant to the company, and pilots Stephen R. Barkin, 46, of Canyon Country and John O. McDaniel, 49, of Long Beach.

* More than half a million people watched as James A. Gregory crashed to a fiery death at the El Toro Air Show on May 2.

Gregory, 40, was finishing a 360-degree loop maneuver in his Korean War-era jet fighter when his vintage plane hit the runway and exploded. The Florida pilot, who had flown solo since age 16 and was known as a gregarious entrepreneur who loved sports, adventure and risk, was the third person killed at the popular El Toro show in eight years.

* Just before the doors opened for Sunday brunch Aug. 1 at the El Torito Restaurant in Newport Beach, a water heater explosion killed one worker and injured five more.

A bookkeeper was hit by timbers from a falling roof; a busboy was trapped in sudden darkness, and a chef was knocked over by a pot of black beans. Bartender Antonio de Santiago, 39, who worked two jobs to support his daughters, was changing clothes to prepare for his shift when the heater exploded because of a malfunction, fatally scalding him.

The explosion destroyed much of the restaurant’s roof and utility area. State officials said later that a small, cheap valve that would have prevented the explosion was missing from the heater. They fined the restaurant $5,000.