DANGER ZONE 4 DIE WHEN PLANES COLLIDE IN BUSY AREA.

Byline: Steve Carney, Jesse Hiestand and Lisa Van Proyen Staff Writers

SYLMAR - In the region's busiest air corridor, four people were killed Monday in a midair collision that sent one plane crashing next to the Golden State Freeway and the other bursting into flames on a golf course amid terrified players.

The spectacular crash occurred at 9:48 a.m. in the heavily congested Newhall Pass, which funnels planes into Burbank Airport, Whiteman Airpark and Van Nuys Airport, the nation's busiest general aviation airport.

``It was going to happen sooner or later,'' said Kevin Connolly, a certified flight instructor with King Aviation Center at Van Nuys Airport. ``It's very common to have many aircraft around you in close proximity.''

No one on the ground was injured, and the single-engine planes miraculously avoided the busy Golden State Freeway, after clipping each other's left wing and hurtling out of control, witnesses said.

``We literally thought it was going to fall on our heads, and another concern was the power lines,'' said Jeffrey Childers of Sherman Oaks, who was playing golf with friends at the newly built Cascades Golf Course when one plane fell about 30 yards away and burst into flames.

The identities of the pilot and passenger of that plane were not immediately available.

The pilot of the plane that crashed alongside San Fernando Road was identified as Charles David Oliver, 53, of Glendora, according to the Coroner's Office.

Oliver was licensed as an airline transport pilot and flight instructor.

Ernie and Ronnie Jabara, neighbors of Oliver, said he often flew celebrities, including rock stars and politicians, with his charter plane company.

``I remember him telling me about flying Debbie Reynolds and her team,'' Ronnie Jabara said. ``Rod Stewart, too. He was very much in demand from the VIP world.''

Neighbors said despite losing an eye in an accident, Oliver was a steady, experienced pilot.

``It didn't interfere with his flying,'' Ernie Jabara said.

Authorities did not release the name of his passenger, a woman in her 60s.

Childers said he and other golfers ran to the other wreckage but couldn't get near it because heat, smoke and the fear of live wires and exploding fuel kept them at bay.

Investigators said it was too early to determine why the planes crashed, but that the pilots might have failed to see each other because of the planes' blind spots.

Neither plane reported problems before the collision, said FAA spokeswoman Kirsti Dunn.

Both planes had been in contact with Van Nuys Airport just before the collision, Dunn said. Oliver's plane had indicated it was heading for the airport, but when air traffic controllers answered, it did not respond, Dunn said.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said the pass is heavily traveled, but not dangerous.

A pilot who asked not to give his name but who has been flying out of Van Nuys for five years said the pass ``is a very high-density area compared to most places.''

``That is certainly the biggest single spot in the Valley for getting into and out of the Valley,'' he said.

The plane that fell on the golf course was a Bellanca 7ECA that might have been scouting pipeline locations for a Bakersfield company, said Bruce Nelson, an operations officer for the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles.

The plane Oliver was flying was a Questair Venture, a homemade two- seat experimental aircraft that was bound for Van Nuys Airport, six miles to the south.

After the collision, the Bellanca plunged into high-voltage power lines, exploded, and fell onto the sixth-hole fairway off Balboa Boulevard. About 33,000 customers in the Van Nuys area lost power for three minutes after the plane hit the power lines, officials said.

The other plane, witnesses said, tumbled and corkscrewed, passing over the Golden State Freeway, until it crashed on the side of San Fernando Road near the gate to a Metropolitan Water District filtration plant.

``Once they hit he was kind of fluttering to stay up,'' said Darren Gray of B&W Pipeline, who was working with a crew installing storm drains at a new office building next to the freeway.

The red Bellanca did not catch fire, but ended up like a crushed Coca- Cola can amid the roadside vegetation. Rescue workers lifted the wreckage with a crane, trying to recover the bodies of the two occupants, said L.A. Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda.

Investigators believe the Bellanca's pilot may have been circling over a construction site near the golf course, monitoring pipelines, when the planes collided.

``Whenever they see construction going on, it's their job to make sure (construction workers) are not digging into the line,'' said George Petterson, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Among the factors that could have led to the crash are the planes' respective blind spots. On the Bellanca the wing is above the cockpit, while the wing on the Venture is below the cockpit.

``It's certainly something to consider - a wing does block your view,'' Petterson said.

Unlike a heavy-traffic area such as Los Angeles International Airport, where air traffic control regulates height, speed and direction of incoming planes, controllers at Van Nuys merely tell small planes the order in which they should land, and the location of the plane ahead of them in line.

Otherwise, when conditions are good, the area is considered a ``see and avoid area,'' and pilots are on their own to stay out of each other's way.

Even though the Newhall Pass is uncontrolled, an inspector for the FAA's Van Nuys Flight Standards District Office said small planes should have enough room to avoid each other.

``There may be a little bit of concentration for natural features, but not a lot,'' said the inspector, who declined to give his name. He said the 10-mile-wide Newhall Pass and the surrounding peaks form ``more of a landmark than a physical barricade.''

The pass lines up with a runway at Van Nuys Airport, so when pilots are in the pass they know they're lined up with the runway, he said.

Connolly said that's why so many pilots use the pass - it's convenient. But he said the ultimate responsibility is with the pilots.

``There's no substitute for your eyes,'' Connolly said. ``It's just a reminder everyone needs to keep their heads up. That's the only way you can prevent this.''

- Staff Writers Jason Kandel and Nicole M. Campbell contributed to this story.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, map, drawing

Photo: (1 -- color) Firefighters search the wreckage of an experimental plane that crashed Monday near San Fernando Road after a midair collision.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) NTSB investigator George Petterson inspects a section of the wing of the Questair Venture.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) The downed Bellanca 7ECA continues to burn Monday morning after crashing onto the Cascades Golf Course in Sylmar.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News

Map: crash site

Drawing: Fiery collision

Questair Venture

Bellanca Citabria

Bradford Mar/Staff Artist