Plane Crashes Into Golf Course
A single-engine plane crashed into a golf course in the Sepulveda Basin on Monday night, but the pilot was in good enough shape to joke about it.
“They wouldn’t let me play through,” the 52-year-old pilot, identified only as a Los Angeles-area dentist, told paramedics when they found him sitting on a cart used by greens crews, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
The pilot told the paramedics that he was en route to Van Nuys Airport from Camarillo in his six-seat Malibu Mirage about 7:30 p.m. when he lost power, Humphrey said. He made an emergency landing, pulling up his landing gear at the last moment and sliding onto a damp green at the Woodley Golf Course.
The plane skidded 100 yards, lost a wing and ruptured its fuselage--although apparently no fuel spilled--before coming to rest near the first hole, Humphrey said.
The pilot complained of back pain but refused to be taken to a hospital, Humphrey said. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident, he added.
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