Crash Victims Flew Together Often

A man and woman killed Monday when their small plane clipped a power line and slammed into the garage of an Anaheim Hills home were returning from a trip to Arizona, family members say.

Coroner’s officials identified the passenger Tuesday as Noreen Kammer, 49, of Oceanside.

Officials did not release the name of the pilot because his relatives had not been notified, but Kammer’s husband, Randy, identified the pilot and plane owner as his friend of 22 years, Eugene James, 60, of Santa Ana.

Randy Kammer said James planned to retire in Arizona. He and Noreen Kammer had driven to Prescott, Ariz., Thursday evening to visit his newly built home and to register his truck. They were expected home late Monday, although he said they did not have plans to fly.

Noreen Kammer and James left Oceanside early Monday afternoon in James’ 1959 Piper Cherokee. The single-engine plane crashed in bad weather about 2:30 p.m. as it was preparing to land at John Wayne Airport, officials said. The plane clipped power lines and a tree before it hit the home in the 800 block of South Sapphire Lane, setting off a fire in the garage.

“What they were doing in a plane, in that weather, I don’t know,” he said.

Randy Kammer and the couple’s only child, Max, 16, visited the crash site Tuesday to place poinsettias, roses and a Christmas card at a makeshift memorial nearby.

“She was very kind, with the biggest heart,” Randy Kammer said. “I’m numb, in shock. I needed some closure. Seeing the place where she passed away brings me comfort. I can’t explain why, but she’s in a better place.”

Under gray and rainy skies Tuesday, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board pulled pieces of the wreckage out of the garage and loaded them onto a flatbed truck for further investigation. Weather may have been a factor in the crash, authorities said.

Homeowner Karen McEwen had left about 30 minutes before the accident to pick up her son from school, neighbors said. She returned Tuesday to pick up important papers from the house but wound up also offering her condolences to Noreen Kammer’s family.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said as she hugged father and son.

Randy Kammer said James owned a Santa Ana welding and fabrication shop, had never married and didn’t have any children. He was a “fanatic with mechanical abilities” and recently installed a new radio and leather interior in the plane, which he had owned for about 10 years.

“He was good with his hands, fixing cars, motorcycles, hot rods and anything in that plane that didn’t have to be approved,” Randy Kammer said. “He was a competent guy.... I never had second thoughts about his flying abilities.”

He said his wife and James, who was rated to fly with instruments alone, flew together often, taking trips to Nevada, Arizona and Santa Catalina.

“She was so happy whenever she could fly,” Max Kammer said. “She just loved cruising the skies.”

Noreen Kammer was a homemaker who loved to find treasures at estate sales and took daily walks near the Oceanside Pier to collect seashells.

“This is going to be a tough Christmas,” Randy Kammer said. “The tree is going to be empty because we were waiting for her to come home so we can all decorate it.”