Local News in Brief : Pilot Dies in Hillside Crash of Small Plane
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The wreckage of a single-engine airplane that crashed in Angeles National Forest, killing the pilot, was discovered by authorities early Thursday.
The Piper PA-28 piloted by Eugene Mac Briggs, 48, of Antioch crashed Wednesday in the fog-shrouded terrain south of Placerita Canyon Road near Placerita Canyon State Park, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Dave Tellez said. The wreckage was found about 4:15 a.m. Thursday, he said.
Briggs, a physician, was en route from Northern California to Burbank Airport. He last made radio contact with authorities near Castaic Lake about 5:25 p.m. Wednesday, Tellez said. Other aircraft in the area picked up the plane’s emergency transmission signal, and a sheriff’s search-and-rescue team began looking for the plane about 9 p.m.
The plane was found upside down but relatively intact on a brush-covered hillside near 4,636-foot Mendenhall Peak, the sheriff’s spokesman said.
The crash is being investigated by the Sheriff’s Department, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The PA-28 is under study by the Federal Aviation Administration for possible design flaws.
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