Plane on Route to John Wayne Crashes; 4 Killed

Four people died Sunday morning when a private plane returning from Las Vegas to its base at John Wayne Airport crashed in San Bernardino County, authorities said.

The two men and two women, who have not been identified, were killed when the twin-engine plane crashed in turbulent weather in a remote area about 50 miles southeast of Barstow.

Authorities made tentative identifications based on documents found in the plane. Among the dead apparently was an Orange County woman in her 30s, who was a pilot, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said. A man and a woman from Illinois also might have been killed, along with a man in his 20s, Deputy Andy Avery said. The Illinois man may have been a pilot, he said.

They apparently were returning from a weekend trip to Las Vegas.

The aircraft was identified as a Piper Aztec with tail number N-2377T. A plane matching that description is registered to Command Aviation, a flight school based at John Wayne Airport.

Dave Carsel, assistant flight instructor for Command Aviation, confirmed that a plane with that tail number is registered to his company, which sometimes rents aircraft to its instructors.

He was unable late Sunday to confirm if the company had lost a plane or if the Piper Aztec with that registration number had been flown to Las Vegas.

“I have no idea,” he said. “All I know is that is a Command Aviation aircraft. . . . Hopefully, [the plane that crashed] is not our plane. Hopefully, it is no one I know.”

Avery said witnesses reported the plane “went into a tailspin” and crashed at 10:46 a.m. in a fireball on a dry lake bed northeast of Lucerne Valley and east of Highway 247.

Avery was trying to put together a tentative identification of the victims late Sunday, using wallets, purses, a passport and other personal effects recovered from the crash. Because of the condition of the bodies, dental records will be needed to confirm their identities, which could take until Tuesday, a coroner’s spokesman said.

“It appears from receipts and other material that they landed in Vegas on Friday and headed back to Orange County today,” Avery said.

The plane filed no flight plan before taking off Sunday, said Jerry Acosta, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will arrive Monday to begin an inquiry into the crash’s cause, he said.

“There was a lot of turbulence,” sheriff’s spokesman Ted Morgan said.

According to FAA records, the plane is a six-seater that is owned by P.I.C. Aircraft Leasing Corp. of Carson City, Nev. It apparently leased the plane to Command Aviation.

Command operates a flight school and rents some aircraft at John Wayne, airport spokeswoman Kathleen Chambers said.