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4 airplane crash victims identified

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Human remains found at the site of an airplane crash in San Gorgonio Pass have been positively identified as those of a Fullerton couple, who owned the plane, and two friends, authorities said Thursday.

Michael Bybyk, 75, and his wife, Joyce, 70, had taken off Feb. 2 from Bermuda Dunes Airport near Indio in a twin-engine Cessna 340A with friends Alvin Baker, 79, of Chino and Gail Pugel, 68, of Ontario.

After disappearing into a cloud bank, the airplane apparently struck the side of a mountain, leaving its wreckage strewn throughout a steep snowy area near Kitching Peak in Millard Canyon, a chasm north of Interstate 10 and east of Banning.

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Investigators found the wreckage a week later. They believe Michael Bybyk was piloting the plane.

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