Pilot of Downed Plane Is Named

As deep-water divers prepared to salvage the small plane that crashed over the weekend off Dana Point, relatives identified the pilot as Daniel Neuman of Foothill Ranch.

Over the weekend one of the three passengers was identified as race-truck driver Jason Baldwin, 35, of Laguna Beach.

The group was returning from an off-road racing competition in Baja California when the Cessna 210 crashed shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday about three miles offshore. The aircraft, which is owned by the Baldwin Co., took off from San Felipe and was headed to John Wayne Airport.

Neuman, 51, flew members of the Baldwin family and their friends every time there was a race, said his mother-in-law, Dee Ziebell. He also acted as a spotter, flying over the race course to warn drivers of obstacles.

“He was an excellent pilot and instructor,” Ziebell said. “He was not a risk-taker. He could handle any type of emergency situation with ease.”

Divers will try today to retrieve the bodies and their plane, authorities said Monday. The craft lies 210 feet underwater.

Because of darkness, pressure and low temperatures at such depths, the recovery requires special training and diving equipment, said Nicole Charnon, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator.

An Orange County sheriff’s helicopter will hover over the crash site to guide the divers.

When the aircraft is raised about 180 feet, divers from the sheriff’s harbor patrol will try to recover the bodies of the four people who were believed to be on the plane when it crashed, said Lt. Erin Giudice, who is coordinating the recovery operation.

The wreckage will be hoisted onto a barge, then transferred to a trailer and taken to Lancaster, where investigators will examine the parts to try to determine the cause of the crash, Charnon said.