Mercy Doctors’ Airplane Was Old and Ill-Equipped

A private plane that left Orange County in dense fog and slammed into a ridge in a remote part of Camp Pendleton, killing all four people aboard, was 40 years old and not equipped for instrument flying in inclement weather, federal investigators said Tuesday.

Federal officials stopped short of blaming Friday’s crash on pilot error, citing their ongoing investigation. But they pointed out that Anthony W. Shanks, the owner and pilot of the aircraft, chose to fly under visual flight rules rather than file a flight plan, which would have required air traffic controllers to put him on a course at least 2,000 feet above the mountains.

“The airplane was not qualified for instrument flying,” said George Petterson,() a National Transportation Safety Board investigator. “Everybody is saying the weather was really bad on Friday. So far, all indications are that weather was a factor in the accident. But the investigation into the cause of the crash is just starting.”

Federal records show that Shanks’ twin-engine Piper Apache PA-23 was 40 years old. Although it was not equipped for instrument flying, Shanks, 36, and co-pilot Randy V. Breding, 31, both of Sacramento, were instrument-certified, Petterson said.

The two pilots were flying Dr. Francis Markoe Dugan, Jr. and Dr. George Brauel, both of UCI Medical Center in Orange, on a medical mission to Mexico. Dugan, a 37-year-old Santa Ana father of two, was assistant clinical professor of head and neck surgery, and Brauel, 34, of Fountain Valley, was chief resident in that department.

The medical mission was sponsored by Orange County-based LIGA International Inc., known as the Flying Doctors of Mercy. Dugan and Brauel were on an 800-mile medical mission involving 15 planes headed to Los Mochis, the largest city near the group’s clinic in San Blas in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Aircraft used by LIGA have been involved in at least two other crashes, and critics, including former doctors who were associated with the group, have charged that the organization often relies on unqualified pilots.

LIGA spokesman Ray Hendrickson defended the safety record of the planes and pilots who fly the organization’s doctors on medical missions to Mexico. Typically, pilots used by LIGA have at least 400 hours of flying experience and are instrument-qualified, Hendrickson said. He added that the group sponsors about 270 flights to Mexico annually, using about 30 planes flown by volunteers.

According to Petterson, Shanks’ Piper Apache took off Friday morning from John Wayne Airport and disappeared at 9:37 a.m. from a Federal Aviation Administration radar screen in San Diego. Officials said the plane slammed into the north side of a ridge at Camp Pendleton, a few miles southeast of the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 5. Shanks’ body was recovered in the remains of the fuselage. The three other men had been ejected from the four-seat plane upon impact.

Petterson said the plane was flying at an altitude between 800 and 1,200 feet and was violating Camp Pendleton air space when it crashed into the ridgeline. Private aircraft are required to get clearance from the Marine Corps before flying over the base and must fly above 2,000 feet, he said.

“There are still many questions. When they departed (John Wayne), they advised the tower they were going to Brown Field in San Diego and would fly at 3,500 feet,” Petterson said. “But according to radar data they never got above 1,700 feet.”

Petterson said recordings show that Shanks made two attempts to contact the Camp Pendleton tower moments before the crash to get authorization to fly over the base. But both times he was blocked out by radio traffic from military aircraft.

George Brauel, father of one of the doctors who died, said he is angry and frustrated by the lack of information about the crash. “We’re getting so many contradictory statements from the coroner’s office (and other agencies),” he said. “Everything is so hush-hush about this. People told us it wasn’t overcast. And LIGA knew on Saturday that the plane was missing, but I wasn’t told anything about it until Monday.”

According to Petterson, both Shanks and Breding were qualified as commercial pilots and both were certified flight instructors. There is no record of disciplinary action ever taken against either pilot by the FAA, Petterson said.

FAA spokesman Hank Verbais said that Shanks had no history of accidents, but added that Breding’s records were unavailable. There was no record of Shanks’ Piper Apache ever being in an accident or subject to any enforcement action by the FAA, he said.

Meanwhile, other doctors who once served as LIGA volunteers said that safety for the organization’s volunteers was never a high priority. Among the critics was Dr. Elias Amador of Rancho Palos Verdes, who is chief pathologist at King-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Amador, who was a LIGA volunteer before several flight crashes, resigned in part because he believed that safety for the doctors was jeopardized, he said.

“I’m absolutely furious over this needless tragedy,” Amador said. “It never should have happened. The organization should have taken steps to prevent this. But didn’t.”

Amador charged that use of volunteer pilots who have not been checked out for flying ability and instrument flight rules capability has been a long-term problem with LIGA.

At least two nonfatal plane crashes in the early 1990s resulted in lawsuits filed in Orange County, naming LIGA as a defendant.

One lawsuit stemmed from a rough landing in November, 1990, during a trip to the San Blas clinic. In that case, Jeanette Miller, a nurse, alleged that LIGA was negligent in hiring a pilot who she claimed was unqualified to make the flight.

LIGA contended in court documents that the accident was “unavoidable” and denied any allegations of negligence, saying its pilots sign contracts in which they agree to take sole responsibility for the flights.

The organization also argued in court documents that Miller was covered under the organization’s workers’ compensation insurance coverage, and was not eligible to seek damages in civil court. Miller, who spent nearly a month in the hospital with a serious back injury, eventually settled with the group and the pilot’s insurance carrier for an undisclosed amount, said Steven L. Dickinson, a Costa Mesa attorney who represented her in her lawsuit.

“Their practices left a lot to be desired,” Dickinson said. “The pilot we were dealing with did not have sufficient experience. You’re dealing with an organization that relies on people volunteering their time.”

Los Angeles attorney Paul Hedlund, who represented optometrist Glenn Pierre, who was seriously injured in a crash in Mexico in 1991, said he reached similar conclusions about LIGA. In that case, the pilot crashed into power lines while flying low over a riverbed, according to the Orange County lawsuit filed by Pierre and his wife, Debbie.

“One of the problems is that the passengers really have little idea or no idea who is piloting the plane, and what kind of plane is involved,” Hedlund said. “They just assume that everything is taken care of. I think that is, unfortunately, a deadly assumption.”

Hedlund, who specializes in commercial airline crashes, said he believes LIGA has good pilots and bad.

The organization “is basically looking for someone who is going to volunteer a plane,” he said. “That leaves, perhaps, some good sense behind.”

Hedlund said Glenn Pierre nearly died in the crash and still has trouble walking.

LIGA eventually was dropped as a defendant in that case, LIGA spokesman Hendrickson said.

Dickinson said Friday’s crash should never have happened. “They should have realized from the past lawsuits that they need greater control on the qualifications of their pilots.”

However, friends of Shanks and Breding said that both men were experienced aviators.

“I would have not expected this to happen to Anthony or Randy--and especially not with both of them in the plane,” said Tim Sloan, Shanks’ best friend.

Ed Callaway, president of Executive Fliers Inc., an aviator training firm based at Sacramento Executive Airport, said he had hired Shanks to work as a part-time instructor in September, 1993.

“He always impressed me as being a competent pilot when I flew with him,” Callaway said. “I wouldn’t have taken him on as an instructor if I hadn’t thought he was.”

Shanks, a parks supervisor for the city of Sacramento, was divorced and had a 12-year-old son, Anthony Jr., Sloan said. Breding, a revenue officer for the city of Sacramento, was married and had a son younger than a year old, he added.

Sloan said that Shanks and Breding had logged an estimated 1,500 to 2,500 hours between them and that Shanks had purchased the Piper Apache airplane last fall.

Breding had attained credentials to teach piloting of multi-engine aircraft, and provided lessons in his own airplane, Sloan said.

“His overall goal was to become an airline pilot,” Sloan said.

Times staff writers David Reyes and Diane Seo and correspondent Jeff Bean contributed to this report.