Piper Malibu crashes in California, killing four, including a 12-year-old boy
Fri, Dec. 22, 2006
Bill Dalby, Montgomery Field's manager, said Mauricio was a Las Vegas pilot with more than 20 years of experience.
``He's a real nice guy. He flies with his family a lot,'' said . ``He lives in Nevada and he flies here on business,'' several media reports stated.
Officials said that San Diego attorney Alyce Mauricio Dreher, Mauricio's daughter, also died in the crash.
The 12-year-old boy was flown to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Calif., but he reportedly died during surgery. His identity, as well as the identity of the fourth victim, was not released.
California Highway Patrol officer Scott Yox said that Buchanan airfield's rescue team responded quickly and may have saved the boy from being burned inside the plane.
Witnesses said the plane burned on impact, producing a big ball of flame and a lot of dark smoke.'
About two hundred yards from the accident scene, an aircraft mechanic with REACH Mediplane said he saw rescuers pulling out one of the bodies. ``We ran over there with our supplies,'' said Chris Jones of Discovery Bay. ``Someone from the freeway was dragging out a body, yelling that someone else was in there. The propeller was off the plane and across the freeway. The wing fell, the nose followed. It sounded like the engine increased in noise, like he was trying to get it out of the stall."
An employee at a car dealership next to the airfield said he saw the plane in trouble.
``This one was coming in so steep and banking at such a weird angle,'' said Gary Reardon, assistant office manager at Lithia Ford of Concord. ``The plane kind of disappeared behind a tree that blocks the airfield and then all of a sudden the service manager says, `Oh my God! It crashed.'"
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