1 Killed, 2 Missing After Private Plane Crashes in Bay

Search and rescue teams recovered a woman’s body in Santa Monica Bay on Thursday morning, hours after a small plane with three people aboard crashed in the ocean off Topanga State Beach, authorities said.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was discovered at 8:25 a.m. about three miles northwest of the Santa Monica Pier. Searchers also found aircraft debris, clothing and an oil slick in the same area.

Lt. Carlos Mercado, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, said authorities searched Thursday for two men who also were aboard the rented Cessna 172 when it took off from Santa Monica Airport on Wednesday evening. Their names have not been released.

Coast Guard officials said that a second debris field, containing floor mats and aircraft insulation, was located at 11:20 a.m. about 2 1/2 miles west of Marina del Rey. They suspect the items are from the same plane.

“Right now, all we are finding is debris. There are no signs of life, but we will continue searching,” Mercado said.

The single-engine aircraft was apparently rented for a pleasure flight of one to two hours, according to officials of the National Transportation Safety Board. They added that the cause of the crash is not known.

The aircraft took off about 6:50 p.m. Wednesday and headed out over Santa Monica Bay. About 15 minutes later, a surfer alerted the Sheriff’s Department that a small plane had crashed in the sea about 500 to 1,000 yards off Topanga State Beach.

The surfer, Curt Harper, 36, of Santa Monica, called 911, and a search was launched.

Harper had been taking off his wetsuit along Pacific Coast Highway when he barely noticed a plane on the horizon, with its red and white lights on, as it went down for the last 300 feet or so into the water without any visible flames or audible explosion. Harper was back surfing in the area Thursday afternoon.

“It went down fast. It had its lights on and it went straight down. I knew it was a plane right away. I didn’t hear any sounds. I didn’t see any explosion,” said Harper, who works as a library clerk at the William Morris agency.

“The facts are pretty sketchy,” said Robert Trimborn, manager of Santa Monica Airport, where more than 450 small planes are based.

Trimborn said Wednesday evening was particularly dark because of overcast skies under a cloud ceiling of about 1,000 feet. He did not know whether the decreased visibility contributed to the crash.

Coast Guard officials said the four-passenger Cessna belonged to Justice Aviation, which rents aircraft and has a flight school at the airport. Operators of the company declined to comment.

Participating in the search Thursday were two cutters and a helicopter from the Coast Guard as well as county lifeguards and units from the Sheriff’s Department. Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB, which investigate plane crashes, were also at the scene.

Scott Carrier, a spokesman for the county coroner’s office, said authorities are withholding the names of the crash victims until their families can be notified.

On Thursday evening, five vessels were at the crash site under overcast skies. They included a Coast Guard cutter, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s boat, two lifeguard vessels and a Santa Monica Harbor patrol boat.

Lifeguards on Thursday searched the beaches from Topanga south to Marina del Rey. “Nothing washed up at all,” said a lifeguard who spoke on condition of anonymity. He estimated that the ocean averages about 50 feet deep in the crash area and has a very irregular bottom.

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Times staff writers Bob Pool and Louis Sahagun contributed to this story.