2 Midair Crash Victims Flew for Burbank Firm : Investigations: Witnesses say the two planes appeared to clip wings before plunging into fields near an airport.

Two people killed in a midair collision of two small planes near Banning Municipal Airport on Thursday were employees of a Burbank aerial photography business, the company reported Friday.

Jeff Curtis, director of marketing and sales for I.K. Curtis Services Inc., identified the occupants of the downed Cessna 207 as pilot David Grimm, who was married and had four small children, and Brad Newton, both of Burbank.

Grimm, 32, had worked as an aerial photographer for the last three years, said family friend Brandon Eaton. His assignments included taking pictures of landscapes for cartographers. He also took pictures of collapsed bridges after the Northridge earthquake for the California Department of Transportation.

When he was younger, Grimm wanted to become a military fighter pilot, Eaton said. Over the years, Grimm held several jobs in the aviation industry, including baggage handler and pilot instructor.

“He loved flying and he was making a living at it,” Eaton said. “He worked his butt off to get to where he was.”

Additional information on Newton, who was not married, could not be obtained Friday.

The pilot of the second aircraft, who also died in the crash, was identified only as a Japanese national flying out of Brackett Field in La Verne, said Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Mark Lohman.

Witnesses said the planes appeared to clip wings before plunging into fields on the Morongo Indian Reservation and causing a grass fire. Nobody on the ground was injured.

Lohman said the Piper Cherokee flown by the unidentified pilot was approaching the airport and heading into the afternoon sun when it collided with the Cessna.

Witnesses reported that the Piper tried to avoid the Cessna moments before the collision, Lohman said. The planes were flying at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 feet, he said.

Curtis said the two-man crew was taking photographs in the area, but said other details of the crash would have to come from federal investigators.

Fred O’Donnell, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles, said Banning Municipal Airport has no air traffic controllers and that pilots approaching it are instructed to check the sky on their own for other aircraft. The pilots are supposed to then announce their positions and intentions on a common radio frequency.

The aircraft “were responsible for their own navigation and separation,” O’Donnell said.

The radio frequency is not tape recorded, so investigators did not know whether either or both pilots had broadcast their locations before colliding, O’Donnell said.

The crash was being investigated by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Curtiss said the company has established the Grimm Family Assistance Fund to help the pilot’s family.

Donations were being accepted at the company, 2919 Empire Ave., Burbank 91504.