Plane May Have Broken Up in Storm : Crash: Witnesses say pieces fell from plane carrying two Orange County couples before Florida crash.

Investigators combed a rural Florida orange grove Wednesday for clues to the cause of a plane crash that killed two couples from Orange County who were en route to a boating vacation in the Cayman Islands.

Authorities identified the victims as Jack A. George, 63, of Newport Beach, the pilot and owner of the private plane; Colleen O’Neill, 50, of Costa Mesa; and Carolyn Ann Speers, 57, and Dallas Earle Speers Jr., 66, of Laguna Beach.

The Speerses were flying with George, a pilot for nearly 40 years and a longtime friend, for the first time, according to family members.

“It’s all just kind of too much right now,” said Greg Jones of South Pasadena, Carolyn Speers’ son from a previous marriage.

Federal investigators said George’s twin-engine 1967 Beechcraft Barron BE-55 was flying through heavy thunderstorms Tuesday about noon PST when the aircraft apparently began to disintegrate in flight and crashed into an orange grove near Wauchula, Fla., about 65 miles southeast of Tampa.

Witnesses said they saw pieces of the plane falling before it slammed into a ditch between orange groves, said Andrew Alston, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. Wreckage from the plane was strewn across a 2 1/2-mile area in Hardee County. No injuries were reported on the ground.

The four had left the tiny El Monte airport Monday morning and made a stop in St. Angelo, Tex., before heading for Havana, a suburb of Tallahassee, on Tuesday.

George, a retired defense contractor, had filed a flight plan for the third leg of the trip from Havana to Key West. In Key West, family members said, the group was expected to join several other fliers headed in a caravan to the Cayman Islands, south of Jamaica.

George was flying at about 9,000 feet Tuesday afternoon when air traffic controllers in Miami warned him that thunderstorms were straight ahead, Alston said. Controllers gave George permission to change course to avoid the storms, but soon lost radio and radar contact with him, Alston said.

The investigation was expected to focus heavily on the thunderstorms as a possible cause of the crash, officials said.

The trip to the Cayman Islands was something the two couples had been looking to with much excitement, family members said Wednesday.

George, originally from South Pasadena, had owned the Beechcraft for 20 years, according to his son, Tobin George, 35. The retiree had starting with flying lessons after the birth of his daughter, now 38. George’s own father was a pilot during World War I and flying was “his first love,” according to family members.

George, who was divorced, flew all over the country with O’Neill. He moved to Newport Beach in 1992, soon after dissolving his business. He is survived by two children and three grandchildren.

George’s family members said they believed that O’Neill had two children of her own.

Dallas Speers was also born and raised in South Pasadena, where he ran a television and radio repair sales and service shop, “Speers’ TV,” for 35 years.

Dallas and Carolyn Speers married about 7 years ago, second marriages for both, and bought a home in Laguna Beach, according to family members. Carolyn Speers also had come from the San Gabriel Valley.

In Orange County, the Speers often cruised between Newport Beach and Dana Point harbors on their boat, The Whisper II.

Dallas Speers also was a volunteer for the Laguna Beach Police Department, working for about six years as the department’s alarm officer. His job was to bill property owners for hooking up home security systems and notify them of penalties for too many false alarms. Through his work, the former Pasadena reserve police officer raised “a couple hundred thousand dollars” for the city, Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said.

He would never accept a penny in compensation for his time, at least 12 hours each week.

“He did a wonderful job in dealing with the people,” Purcell said. “All our folks just enjoyed and admired him.”

Colleagues placed a bouquet on his desk Wednesday and stopped by throughout the day for a moment of silence. Purcell remembered the Speers for how well they got along and relished doing things together, such as boating.

“They just enjoyed life,” Purcell said. “They celebrated life.”

The state Legislature was expected to make a brief memorial today for the couple, said LuAnne Pisarski, Dallas Speers’ daughter.

“They were highly liked in California,” she said.

Dallas Speers is survived by two daughters and two grandchildren. Carolyn Speers is survived by four children and three grandchildren.