3 KILLED IN CRASH OF LIGHT PLANE : CAMERAMAN SURVIVES.

Byline: Chip Jacobs Daily News Staff Writer

A 26-year-old television cameraman untangled himself from a crashed single-engine plane and tried unsuccessfully to rescue three others as the wreckage exploded in flames, officials said Sunday.

The crash during a training exercise killed two men and a woman after the Piper 28 crashed in a remote mountainside area roughly 60 miles east of Bakersfield about 4 p.m. Saturday, according to Jeff Cameron, an investigator with the Kern County Coroner's Office.

The small aircraft departed from the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport midafternoon and was en route to Tehachapi when it went down, according to Bruce Nelson, a Federal Aviation Administration operations officer.

J.D. Orozco of San Gabriel suffered second- and third-degree burns over 20 percent to 25 percent of his body in the crash and was facing his second surgery today at the Sherman Oaks Hospital's Grossman Burn Center, said hospital spokesman Larry Weinberg. Orozco was listed in serious but stable condition.

Orozco was traveling with Edison Chavez, a close friend taking a flying lesson, with his girlfriend and another friend also on board, when Chavez tried to perform a touch-and-go landing, Weinberg said.

In that type of training maneuvers, a pilot almost completes a full landing, actually putting the plane's wheels on the runway before pulling up and gaining altitude.

According to Weinberg, Orozco said something apparently went wrong, forcing the instructor to grab control of the plane from Chavez before it crashed.

The force of the hillside impact catapulted Orozco forward and partially out of the crumpled, smoldering plane, authorities said.

``His foot was entangled by the seat belt, but he was able to extricate himself before the plane exploded,'' Weinberg said.

Officials said he tried to save the others but was driven away by the flames.

Despite his burns and bruises, Orozco, a former Telemundo television cameraman who now does free-lance jobs, managed to descend a hill and flag down a motorist who helped the injured man summon paramedics.

On Sunday, he was talking. He had visible marks from jerking against the seat belt harness and was getting counseling, Weinberg said.

``A psychologist who spoke with him said patients who have gone through this type of event are on emotional roller coasters,'' he said.

Cameron, who believed Orozco was knocked unconscious by the crash, said the burning plane touched off a two-acre brush fire that the Kern County Fire Department was able to extinguish.

``It shows a lot of strength of character,'' Cameron said of Orozco's ability to pull himself away from the explosion and get help.

The cause of the accident is under investigation by National Transportation Safety Board inspectors, who were at the crash site Sunday, Nelson said.

Orozco was airlifted to a Kern County hospital before being driven to Sherman Oaks.

The victims are believed to be from the Los Angeles area. Their identities will be released once the autopsies are completed, likely today, Cameron said. It wasn't clear if other passengers besides Orozco survived the initial crash, which occurred in clear weather and good visibility.

The plane's wreckage covered a hillside in the Walker Basin, a mountainous area between Bakersfield and the Mojave Desert, near the small rural town of Caliente. It was at least the third small-plane crash in Kern County in the last few months, Cameron said.