Doctor Dies in Canyon Country Jet Crash
A T-33 jet that plunged into a mobile home park in Canyon Country was piloted by a San Fernando Valley doctor, who died in the crash, authorities said Monday.
The pilot, whose name was not released, had left Van Nuys Airport for a small airfield in Agua Dulce on Sunday at 3:47 p.m., said Donn Walker, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The jet plummeted eight minutes later into the Mint Canyon Mobile Manor, near the intersection of Sand Canyon Road and Sierra Highway. It exploded, destroying two mobile homes and damaging several others, according to Howard Plagens, a senior air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
“I’m not sure anybody saw the event before it started,” Plagens said. “All they reported was the airplane pointing straight toward the ground.”
Mechanics were called to the scene to disarm ejection seats on the T-33, which Plagens described as an old Canadian military training plane.
Residents of the park were allowed to return home Sunday evening.
Authorities said no one was injured on the ground, but Walker said several pets were killed.
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