Newport Pair, 2 Others Killed in Florida Air Crash

A Newport Beach man and woman were killed Tuesday, along with a South Pasadena couple, when their small plane flying through heavy thunderstorms crashed in an orange grove, authorities said.

The pilot and owner of the twin-engine Beechcraft was Jack A. George, 63, of Newport Beach, according to his son, Tobin George of South Pasadena. The names of the others, all in their 60s, had not been released.

George said his father, who was divorced, was traveling with a female friend from Newport Beach and friends from Pasadena, all of whom he declined to identify until relatives were notified.

Jack George, a retired defense contractor originally from South Pasadena, had filed a flight plan for a trip from the Tallahassee suburb of Havana to Key West, said Mary Ann Cassano, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta.

The plane went down between Bowling Green and Wauchula. Air traffic controllers in Miami had lost both communications and radar contact with the aircraft, which was then southeast of Lakeland, about 3 p.m. EDT, Cassano said.

The traffic controllers contacted local law enforcement to alert them to an airplane in distress after the pilot advised them he needed to make an emergency landing, said sheriff’s Capt. Arnold Lanier.

Shortly after 4 p.m., he said, “we started receiving calls from residents in the area where the plane went down of plane parts in their yard.”

No injuries on the ground were reported.

Deputies, assisted by a helicopter from a local television station, searched for the crash site, which was found an hour later.

“We understand that at the particular time he was lost from radar, there was an area of thunderstorms in the route of the flight,” Cassano said. “That’s not to say that that was the cause, but it’s a weather condition that was prevalent at that time.”

The aircraft went down in a drainage ditch between orange groves, Lanier said.

The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating, Cassano said.

Jack George had owned the plane for 20 years, according to his son.

“It was probably the most immaculately maintained aircraft you would ever find,” said Tobin George, 35. “It was his pride and joy. It was perfect.”