PLANE CRASHES IN FLAMES IMPACT KILLS ALL 4 ABOARD AIRCRAFT.Byline: Naush Boghossian and Nicholas Grudin Staff Writers Four people apparently died in a fiery crash Sunday when a plane plummeted onto rocky terrain just after taking off from the Agua Dulce Agua Dulce is Spanish for "sweet water". It also refers to various locations: In Mexico:
``I was looking at it and thinking: Oh my god, it's going to hit us,'' said Marla Stark, who was horseback riding horseback riding: see equestrianism. when she saw the plane approaching at a low altitude. The small plane originated from Whiteman Airport Whiteman Airport (IATA: WHP, ICAO: KWHP) is located in Pacoima, California in the San Fernando Valley. No commercial airlines fly into this airport and it used exclusively for general aviation. in Pacoima and was taking off out of Agua Dulce after stopping for lunch there, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Operations Officer Jim Meloon of 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 . It crashed about 1 p.m. in a remote area near Caprock and Yucca Hills roads, said Rudy Wissema of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Not to be confused with Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including the City of La . Don Campbell Don Campbell is an American born in 1951 who invented the dance Locking, as Campbellocking. In 1969 Campbell began making the dance popular around Los Angeles. , 63, of Studio City was flying his Cessna 162 about a mile north of the Agua Dulce Airport when he saw a black plume of smoke. ``Boy it's tragic,'' said Campbell, who said it appeared the plane crashed as it tried to take off uphill into a canyon. ``It might as well have been the Empire State Building,'' he said, talking about the crash afterward, at the Whiteman Airport. ``All of a sudden there was a big column of black smoke with flames beneath it.'' None of the victims had been identified Sunday afternoon and airport officials at Whiteman Airport declined to comment on the registration of the plane, its owner or the crash. Initial reports were that four died in the crash, said Meloon, but the investigation was continuing. With a run-down barn and a rocky canyon in the backdrop, little was left of the small plane at the crash site, save blackened black·en v. black·ened, black·en·ing, black·ens v.tr. 1. To make black. 2. To sully or defame: a scandal that blackened the mayor's name. 3. dirt, ashes, scraps of metal and a brush fire caused by the jet fuel explosion. David Aiello of Agua Dulce was watching as the plane struggled to get off the runway at the airport about a mile away from the crash. ``He never gained speed and then he stalled going into the canyon,'' Aiello said, explaining that the plane took off sluggishly at the edge of the runway, instead of from the middle, where planes usually leave the ground. Aiello, like Campbell, noticed that the plane was going in the opposite direction aircraft generally take on the slightly inclined runway, going uphill instead of using the downhill slope to gain speed. Stark and her riding companion Rikki Boswell, both of Agua Dulce, were finishing a ride when they looked up in shock at the image of an out-of-control plane bearing down on them. ``It was swerving ... and flying really, really low,'' said Stark, who started to run when she realized what was happening. Boswell jumped onto her horse and galloped away from the plane. ``I heard a loud crunch of metal and a huge explosion,'' she said, adding that when she looked back over her shoulder, all she could see was a ball of flames. The plane crashed about 200 feet away from the two women. Leo D'Angelo Leo "The Mad Hatter" D'Angelo is a Bonanno crime family mobster and was a long-time employee of The New York Post. Biography D'Angelo was employed as the general foreman at The New York Post in the 1970's and 1980's. saw the plane hit the ground from his kitchen on the hillside above, and grabbed a fire extinguisher fire extinguisher: see fire fighting. to go help at the scene. But when he got there, he was too late to do any good, he said. ``I ran down the hill but the fire was so big and the fuel was dripping,'' D'Angelo said. Staff Writer Dana Bartholomew contributed to this story. A version of this story appears in Main News. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Sheriff's deputies examine the wreckage of a small plane that crashed Sunday afternoon near Wyse Road and Yucca Hills Road near Agua Dulce Airport. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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