CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

By Dan Weikel

Oct. 23, 2009 12 AM PT

A federal administrative law judge has upheld the government’s decision to revoke the pilot’s license of a veteran aviator who flew in a July 4 celebration in Tehachapi that ended with the fatal crash of a vintage Soviet military jet.

Patrick Geraghty, a judge with the National Transportation Safety Board, ruled late Monday in an appeal by Douglas E. Gilliss of Solana Beach, a former Air Force pilot and Vietnam War veteran with years of aviation experience.

Gilliss was one of several pilots who participated in a formation flyover of three Aero Vodochody L-29 Delfins. One L-29 fell out of formation and crashed, killing David Zweigle, 42,the city’s airport director; and Robert Chamberlain, 63, of Morrison, Colo., a former Air Force test pilot.

-- Dan Weikel

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California

Dan Weikel

Dan Weikel covered local aviation, the California high-speed rail project, Metrolink, the MTA and regional transportation issues for the Los Angeles Times before leaving in 2017. He started with the newsroom in 1989 and previously covered courts and transportation in Orange County, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as well as substance abuse, environmental issues and law enforcement as a member of a project team. A native of San Diego, Weikel is a graduate of the UC Santa Barbara and the master’s program at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

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