Pilot dies trying to make emergency landing in San Gabriel parking lot

Nov. 15, 2009 | KPCC Wire Services

SAN GABRIEL - An autopsy could be done as early as today on a pilot who died when he tried make an emergency landing in a San Gabriel parking lot.

He died when his light-plane crossed a road, hit a wall and burst into flames.

The lone pilot of the 1977 Beechcraft Bonanza was not identified, but according to the Federal Aviation Administration registry, the single-engine plane was registered to David E. Flotho of Grants Pass, Oregon.

The crash near Walnut Grove Avenue, north of Grand Avenue, was reported at 4:17 p.m. Saturday.

Witnesses said the plane came down in a parking lot, but ran out of room, skidded across a street and crashed nose-first into a masonry wall outside a factory and caught fire.

``The airplane caught fire and the only person on board was killed,'' Ian Gregor of the FAA said. ``The FAA and NTSB will investigate. Investigators from both agencies are en route to the crash site.''

The plane, which departed from Brackett Field in La Verne, was on its way to Van Nuys when it crashed, he said.

What prompted the pilot to try to land was unknown. It was not immediately clear if he made a distress call before the accident, though officials said he was in contact with the El Monte airport control tower.

The strategic landing may have saved others, according to a fire official at the scene.

``He put it down between the buildings, over a couple of cars in the parking lot, missed a railroad signal light. He did a pretty good job of putting it someplace where people weren't gonna get hurt,'' Los Angeles County fire Capt. Curtis Hummel said, calling the pilot's effort something to be proud of.

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