BODIES BEING RECOVERED FROM PLANES.Byline: - Ryan Oliver and Jason Kandel As relatives and friends mourned the six people who died in the weekend crash of two small airplanes, authorities on Monday began the grim task of recovering the victims' bodies from a remote ravine near Carpinteria. The victims' single-engine, four-seater planes were among a group of eight Beech Bonanzas flying in single-file formation, carrying a group of friends to lunch in Pismo Beach. The two lead airplanes entered a canyon and crashed about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, touching off a 70-acre brush fire, authorities said. Mourners gathered at the Sherman Oaks home of Arpad Bottlo, a 59- year-old auto repairman re·pair·man n. A man whose occupation is making repairs. Noun 1. repairman - a skilled worker whose job is to repair things maintenance man, service man who was at the controls of one of the ill-fated planes. ``Flying was everything he loved to do,'' said Bottlo's wife, Valerie, adding that her Hungarian-born husband had flown since he was 16 years old and had been in the Hungarian Air Force before moving to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. in 1966. Bottlo's wife recalled the last moments she had with her husband before he left the house for what was expected to be a one-day trip. ``We hugged and said goodbye,'' she said. Craig Schulze of Burbank was piloting one of the six V-tail aircraft whose crews saw the two other planes go down. ``When we saw the lead and the second plane go down, we immediately went into a left-hand circle,'' he said. ``The remaining six planes just kept circling, looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. survivors, and we radioed for help.'' Schulze said the crashes shook him and others in the local aviation community. ``It's a very difficult time for us, for everyone who lost their friends and family members,'' Schulze said. ``When I got home I really wanted to spend time with my family. It could have been any one of us up there.'' Authorities withheld the names of the victims Monday, while recovery operations continued and victims' families were notified. The Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control lists the owner of the second downed plane as Dennis Giangreco of Paso Robles Robles is a common surname in the Spanish language meaning oaks, and may refer to:
Four of the planes flew out of Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport (IATA: VNY, ICAO: KVNY, FAA LID: VNY) is a public airport located in Van Nuys, California in the San Fernando Valley, within the Los Angeles city limits. and the four others out of Whiteman Airpark air·park n. A small airport typically located near a business area or industrial park. in Pacoima. Richard Freeman, regional airport director for the American Airports Corp., which operates Whiteman, said he knew some of the victims and had flown with them on several outings. The pilots were part of a tight-knit club that met every Sunday and flew to locations around Southern California for meals. ``That's what we did on Sundays,'' said Freeman, who refused to disclose identities of any of the victims before recovery of the bodies. ``This is a loss to the aviation community and for me. They were my friends.'' A waitress, who didn't want to be identified, said the group often gathered at the Whiteman restaurant on Mondays and talked about where they had flown the previous day. George Bates Bates , Katherine Lee 1859-1929. American educator and writer best known for her poem "America the Beautiful," written in 1893 and revised in 1904 and 1911. , a plumber doing work at the airport, said one of the victims was a project manager for a construction company. ``He was a nice guy,'' Bates said. ``He was a family man. He had a daughter about 17 or 18 years old.'' On Monday investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, fire crews and searchers with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team hiked to the bottom of a steep V-shaped ledge to reach the crash site. They located two engine blocks amid the charred shrubbery and thick brambles. About 100 yards from where investigators worked to find bodies, firefighters with the Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a forest located in southern and central California, which includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Monterey, extending inland. Elevations range from sea level to 8,831 feet. continued to douse douse 1 also dowse v. doused also dowsed, dous·ing also dows·ing, dous·es also dows·es v.tr. 1. To plunge into liquid; immerse. See Synonyms at dip. 2. hot spots hot spots acute moist dermatitis. from the fire. ``We've been lucky,'' said Robert Rivelle, a fire planner for the Los Padres National Forest, from the scene. ``Mother Nature has been cooperating with us. It's going real well. We're fortunate.'' CAPTION(S): map Map: Two small planes crashed, 6 dead |
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