Pilot Dies in Crash Near Airfield

A single-engine plane crashed into a hillside just east of the Agua Dulce Airport sometime after 8 p.m. Friday, killing its pilot, authorities said.

The wreckage was discovered north of the Antelope Valley Freeway on Saturday morning, said Sgt. Ken Wright of the Palmdale station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities were called to the rocky crash site, near the 7700 block of Chambord Drive, about 8 a.m. by a woman who looked out her kitchen window and saw the downed plane, Wright said. The pilot was pronounced dead at the scene, said Tim Dixon, a dispatch supervisor for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The plane was carrying no passengers.

The model BE35 Beechcraft Bonanza left Santa Paula Airport about 8 p.m. Friday, en route to Chandler, Ariz., said Larri Dillard, a Federal Aviation Administration operations officer.

Officials don’t know when the plane went down in Agua Dulce, about 35 miles away.

FAA officials were put on alert that the plane might be missing at 7 a.m. Saturday, after a relative of the pilot contacted the FAA. The pilot, whose name was not released, had not contacted any air controllers, Dillard said.

“No air traffic services were provided,” Dillard said. “He was basically flying out there on his own.”

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. Board spokesman Terry Williams said investigators have not yet determined what caused the crash.

John Annin, owner of the Agua Dulce Airport, said his airport typically sees 10 or fewer takeoffs and landings a day. The private facility has no controller or lights on its runway, he said.

Annin said he left the airport at 7 p.m. Friday, adding that he did not know whether the pilot later attempted to land at Agua Dulce.

“You would have been able to see the airport from [the crash site],” he said. “Maybe he tried.”