Dad, teen daughter apparent victims in small plane crash in Fullerton, California: Reports
A Huntington Beach, California, man and his teen daughter are the apparent victims in the crash of a home-built airplane that happened on Thursday in Fullerton, California.
Pascal Reid and his daughter, Kelly Reid died in the crash, according to reports by outlets Los Angeles Times, KABC-TV, and KTLA citing social media posts from the Huntington Beach High School girls soccer team and girls flag football team. “Yesterday our soccer family suffered an unimaginable loss,” read the post on Instagram, which the soccer team put up on Friday. “Kelly was a natural caregiver and always put others first. She will be deeply missed. Her father was at every single game, always so proud of his daughter.”
The Fullerton Police Department has not released the names of the victims – both of whom police said Thursday were believed to have been in the aircraft at the time of the crash – and is waiting for the Orange County coroner's division to make an official identification, the department told Paste BN in a statement.
Workers suffered injuries from plane crash
Authorities said 19 people who were working inside the building during the time of the plane crash were injured after a single-engine Van’s RV-10 kit plane crashed into the roof of a furniture manufacturing building near the Fullerton Municipal Airport. Eleven people were transported to area hospitals for treatment, and eight others were treated and released on scene, officials said.
A plume of smoke can be seen rising after the plane crash in video of the accident. Police and fire personnel evacuated surrounding business due to the fire. More than 100 people were evacuated from the building, which is owned by Michael Nicholas Designs, the Los Angeles Times reported.
'Oh, my God'
According to FlightAware, which tracks flights in real-time, the single-engine, four-seat plane took off from Fullerton Municipal Airport at 2:07 p.m. Thursday and was only in the air for two minutes. "The pilot simply said that he needed to return to the airport," Eliott Simpson, a senior aviation accident investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said late Thursday in a briefing broadcast on KTLA.
The pilot is heard telling the air traffic control tower he is going to land on Runway 24, according to audio posted on the Aviation Safety Network website. Less than a minute later, a voice can be heard saying, “Oh, my God,” and the audio from the plane ends.
Pascal Reid of Huntington Beach, Calif., is listed as a private pilot and builder of the experimental plane, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
The NTSB moved the wreckage to a secure location Friday for further examination and expects a preliminary report to be issued in 30 days, the agency told Paste BN in a statement.
According to a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report, the aircraft crashed under “unknown circumstances," The Associated Press reported.
Apparent plane crash victim was always 'so happy'
Classmates and friends gathered at First Christian Church on Friday to mourn the victims, the Orange County Register reported.
"To see her pass so suddenly was definitely something that's a little scary for us to all see, but it's nice that her memory is what's bringing us all together right now," Maya Dadkis, a friend of Kelly's who attended Friday's gathering, told Los Angeles TV station KABC.
"She just was kind of that person who, when you walk in the room, you know it's going to be okay. She's so happy. I would always say hi to her in the hallway,'" said Dadkis.
Another plane crashed recently in Fullerton
This is the second recent plane crash at the airport in Fullerton, which is located about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. A four-seat airplane hit a tree while attempting to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff on Nov. 25, 2024, the Orange County Register reported.
Fullerton Mayor Pro Tem Shana Charles told the Los Angeles Times more oversight is needed including making sure the entryway for the landing strip is safer and more education for pilots.
“We need to make sure that we’re doing everything on our side to make sure things are safe for not only the people in the air but on the ground,” she told the Times.
Contributing: Fernando Cervantes Jr. and Thao Nguyen, Paste BN
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