4 Escape Serious Injury in 2 Plane Crashes in Valley

Four occupants of two light planes escaped serious injury Saturday when engine trouble caused the vehicles to crash within an hour of each other in separate accidents in the San Fernando Valley.

One plane came down on a golf course, while the second crashed into a power pole and tumbled to the ground.

About 10:45 a.m., a single engine Cessna returning to Burbank Airport began to lose power and crashed into a power standard near Foothill Boulevard and Yarnell Street in Sylmar, authorities said.

The plane broke into several pieces and the student pilot, a woman in her 30s, escaped with only minor cuts and bruises, said Sgt. Robert Williams of the LAPD Foothill Division.

A short time later, a second plane crash-landed in a sand trap at the 15th green of the Hansen Dam Golf Course.

The twin-engine Beechcraft 55, carrying three people, had taken off from Whiteman Airpark in Pacoima and was in the air only two minutes before experiencing engine problems, said Federal Aviation Administration duty officer Diana Joubert.

The occupants were identified as pilot Gary Didden, 51, his wife, Donna, 51, and their 15-year-old daughter. None was injured.

“Any time you walk away from an air crash, you would consider yourself very fortunate,” said Los Angeles City Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells.

An employee at the golf course said golfers were stunned by the crash.

“It scared the heck out of them,” said golf starter Jerry Carlson.

“They just froze in their tracks; they couldn’t believe what was happening.”

But the golfers got back to their games before long, he said.

“They’re playing around it,” said Carlson. “They don’t let anything stop them.”