Pilot Who Died in Crash Identified

A pilot who died when his single-engine plane crashed into a hillside near the Agua Dulce Airport was identified Sunday as 49-year-old Robert Kelsey of Santa Paula, Los Angeles County coroner’s officials said.

The Ventura County resident had left Santa Paula Airport on Friday night to visit his girlfriend in Phoenix, an older brother said.

“You never expected him to go and never come back. Let’s face it, nobody expects this to happen,” said Kelsey’s 51-year-old brother, Donald, of Santa Paula. “It was bad timing for him to go.”

He said family members were devastated by the news and that Kelsey was not an inexperienced pilot. He had been flying for several years and had never been missing for long periods of time, his brother said.

A recreational pilot, Kelsey had owned and operated Kelsey Automobiles, an auto service and repair business in Ventura, for about 20 years, the brother said.

On Friday, Kelsey left Santa Paula Airport about 8 p.m., piloting his model BE-35 Beechcraft Bonanza en route to an airport in Chandler, Ariz.

By Saturday, relatives became concerned when they had not heard from him, and FAA officials were notified of the missing plane about 7 a.m.

Officials said they were alerted to the crash site a little more than an hour later by a woman, who looked out of her kitchen window and saw the downed plane near the 7700 block of Chambord Drive.

The plane’s wreckage was found about three miles southeast of the Agua Dulce Airport, and Kelsey was pronounced dead at the scene.

Aviation officials are still trying to determine the cause of the crash. Kelsey had not contacted any air controllers while flying that night, officials said. The National Transportation Safety Board is handling the investigation.

Family members are eager to learn why the crash occurred, Donald Kelsey said. Robert Kelsey is survived by a daughter, an ex-wife, his mother and two brothers, he said.