Off-Road Racer Presumed Dead in Plane Crash

An off-road racer was believed to be among four passengers presumed dead after a small plane crashed off the Orange County coast over the weekend.

Jason Baldwin of Laguna Beach and three others were returning from a racing competition in Baja California when their Cessna 210 plunged into the Pacific on Saturday afternoon about three miles off Dana Point, the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday. Nearby pleasure boaters had watched the plane spin out of control.

The remains of the victims had not been recovered Sunday and could be inside the wreckage, which remained under 200 feet of water, authorities said. The Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol was keeping the crash site secure until investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived and proper equipment could be brought in to try to retrieve the aircraft from the ocean floor.

The salvage effort will not begin until Tuesday, the first day qualified divers are available, said Nicole Charnon, an air safety investigator for the NTSB.

One of the presumed victims was identified as Baldwin, 35, of Laguna Beach. Baldwin’s father, developer James Baldwin, told authorities Saturday that his son was on the plane, according to Coast Guard Lt. Tony Migliorini.

Baldwin and his younger brother have been racing trucks for years in the SCORE Desert Racing Series and the Championship Off-Road Racing short-course series.

Baldwin made headlines after two fatal accidents over consecutive years at the Baja 500 in Ensenada. During a pre-race warm-up in 1998, he collided head-on with a motorcyclist who was considering entering the event. A year later, he lost control of his truck two miles beyond the start and crashed into a crowd, killing an onlooker and injuring himself and several others.

Last weekend, Baldwin and his brother were in San Felipe, Mexico, for the Baja 1000 off-road race. He finished 19th out of 342 drivers, about an hour and six places behind brother Josh, 29, of Newport Beach.

The Cessna took off from San Felipe and made a customs stop at Brown Field Municipal Airport in San Diego, en route to John Wayne Airport, Migliorini said.

About 2 p.m., the Coast Guard received a call for help from the Spirit of Dana Point, a replica of a historical tall ship out for a day sail. Two Coast Guard boats, a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles, and the O.C. sheriff’s harbor patrol responded to the scene.

Sheriff’s divers searched for survivors in the area around the downed plane Saturday, but none were found. The four were presumed dead, and the Coast Guard suspended the search about 4 p.m. that afternoon.