Pilot Who Died in Crash Was on State Assignment

A pilot who was killed Tuesday when his small plane crashed during a landing attempt at Fox Field in Lancaster was working for the California Department of Justice on a drug surveillance operation, authorities said Thursday.

Gregory Joseph Fullam, 54, of Fresno, was a civilian pilot assigned to the state Department of Justice’s Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, said Sgt. Bob Pennal of the methamphetamine task force.

“He was a great guy, the type of a guy you wanted to go to lunch with, to hang out with,” said Pennal, who added that Fullam was a military veteran with 30 years of flying experience.

Pennal said the state narcotics agents in Los Angeles requested Fullam’s services because all the bureau’s pilots in Southern California were on other assignments. Light aircraft are often used in the fight against large-scale drug operations, he said.

Fullam, who was married, was flying a department-owned single-engine Cessna 182 from Fresno to Lancaster when the 10:05 a.m. crash occurred, said Bob Crispin, an inspector for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Fullam contacted the control tower as he approached Fox Field from the north, flying over the airfield at an altitude of 8,500 feet, Crispin said. Fullam turned the plane to approach the runway from the south, descending to 4,900 feet in preparation for landing.

For reasons unknown, investigators said, the plane then plummeted almost straight into the ground near 60th Street West and Avenue G. Fullam was alone in the plane. No one on the ground was hurt.

“I’m puzzled,” Crispin said. “We don’t have a good explanation of what happened.”

Pennal said the nature of the crash led him to think Fullam may have had a heart attack.

“He was such a good pilot that the way he crashed indicates he was incapacitated,” Pennal said.

Based on witness statements, Crispin estimated the plane’s descent speed at 150 to 200 knots, well over 200 mph.

“The aircraft struck the ground in an almost perfectly nose-down attitude,” he said. “The engine itself was broken up on impact.”

Crispin said investigators would consider possible medical or mechanical problems that could have led to the crash, including the possibility the plane collided with birds.

“We asked the coroner to see if there is any evidence of feathers, but so far there’s no evidence of a bird,” he said. “There was no contact with another aircraft or even wake turbulence from a larger aircraft. This is not an easy one.”

Speculation that the pilot deliberately crashed seemed baseless, as the control tower said Fullam sounded “upbeat and happy,” Crispin said.