Some sad news coming out of South Lake Tahoe today.
“Witnesses reported seeing the plane take off from Lake Tahoe Airport about 11:15 a.m. [Monday] and head north before veering right and losing altitude and ending up in these woods” – Lt. Pete Van Arnum, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office
The plane ended up upsidedown about one mile from where it took off. The pilot, a Palo Alto resident, was killed in the crash while his wife survived with non-life threatening injuries.
A nurse happened to be walking her dog near the crash site and was able to provide first aid to the woman in the crash and call for medical assistance.
Large amounts of fuel were leaking from the crashed plane. When firefighters arrived they doused the entire area in fire retardant.
“The plane involved in Monday’s crash was a 1963 Mooney M20C, a single-engine, four-seat plane with a weight capacity of up to 12,499 pounds.” – Federal Aviation Administration.
The cause of the accident is currently unknown and is under investigation.
FYI, the 12,499 lb capacity is a classification of aircraft, not he capacity of the Mooney M20C, which is around 2,000 lb max. Sympathies to the family.
RIP. Looks like some sort of mechanical failure.