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Plane crashes after take-off from Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

BORREGO SPRINGS - Two men apparently walked away uninjured after the small plane in which they were riding crashed after taking off from the Borrego Valley Airport en route to Palm Springs over the weekend, it was reported.

The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center in Florida picked up a signal from the single-engine Cubcrafters CC11-160's emergency locator beacon Saturday afternoon indicating it was somewhere in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. A Civil Air Patrol search plane spotted the wrecked aircraft about nine miles northeast of the airport, The Los Angeles Times reported.

A sheriff's department helicopter crew found the plane abandoned, but authorities were later able to track down the pilot at his home in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles County.

The pilot, whose name was not immediately released, told investigators he and his brother-in-law were not injured in the crash and walked away afterward. They had intended to report the accident to his insurance company.

San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Rich Williams told The Los Angeles Times that the pilot said he had landed the plane around 8:30 a.m. Saturday in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, then crashed while taking off.

The Federal Aviation Administration subsequently launched an investigation into the crash. FAA officials in a statement to The Los Angeles Times said the plane had crashed for unknown reasons immediately after taking off from Borrego Springs en route to Palm Springs.

 

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