A new report from federal officials has revealed what happened leading up to a plane crash on a Southern California island that killed all five people on board and took off in the dark despite not having permission to do so had.
The twin-engine Beechcraft 95 crashed as it tried to take off from the Santa Catalina Island airport near the city of Avalon on Tuesday shortly after 8 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The airport does not allow flights after sunset as it is not equipped for night operations. The airport manager previously said that although the pilot was not cleared, the take-off was not considered illegal.
The preliminary report, released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board, says the plane first landed at Catalina Island Airport at 6:20 p.m. to pick up a flight instructor and two student pilots who were stranded after their rented plane malfunctioned. had been hit.
The airport manager told the pilot he had to take off at sunset at 6:31 p.m. As the pilot attempted to take off with his new passengers, the plane's right engine would not start due to insufficient battery power, so they had to get out and connect. the engine on a charger, the report said.
The airport manager informed the pilot that since the charging time would push the departure time past sunset, they would not be cleared for takeoff. The pilot said he had to leave anyway, the report said.
“The airport manager told him that although he could not stop him, his departure would not be approved and would be at his own risk,” the report said.
Security footage at the airport showed the plane taking off during “dark night conditions,” where it was not possible to tell whether the plane was in the air or not before it reached the end of the runway, the report said.
The plane crashed with its landing gear extended into a ridge about 1 mile southwest of the end of the runway, the report said. The main wreckage ended in a ravine approximately 450 feet (137 meters) west of the original impact point.
The plane was registered to Ali Safai, 73, of Los Angeles, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. He was a former flight instructor and founder of a flight school that closed in 2018.
He died in the crash alongside Gonzalo Lubel, 34; Haris Ali, 33; Joeunpark, 37; and Margaret Mary Fenner, 55, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner's office.
The airport is known as the Airport in the Sky due to its precarious location at an altitude of 488 meters on the island, about 40 kilometers off the coast of Los Angeles. It is known to be difficult to land and take off and has been the site of previous crashes.
The airport has one runway of 914 meters long that is not equipped with runway lighting.
