A man died after a two-seat ultralight aircraft crashed into the ocean near Mugu Rock on Saturday, officials said.
After getting the report of the crash, rescue crews responded at 4:46 p.m. to the 7300 block of Pacific Coast Highway, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.
Fire Capt. Dennis O'Shea said there were three ultralight planes flying in the area and they were headed back to the Camarillo airport. One of them began having engine trouble and crashed into the water about 150 yards from Mugu Rock, O'Shea said. Initial reports indicated two aircraft crashed, but officials later said only one had crashed.
Both people on the aircraft, described as men in their 50s, were taken to St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. One of them suffered minor injuries and appeared to be fine, but the other man was not, O'Shea said.
"That gentleman was nonresponsive when he left here in the ambulance," O'Shea said from Mugu Rock.
The Ventura County Sheriff's Office said about 7:40 p.m. that one person on the aircraft had died.
Two couples from Los Angeles County were camping in the area when they saw the aircraft go down and called for help. John Pitzer, of El Segundo, and Alex Daniels, of Torrance, immediately went into the water after the crash. Daniels' wife, Angie, called 911.
"We were watching them fly and all of a sudden, he gets lower and lower," Pitzer said.
Pitzer and Daniels went down the cliff and helped the men get to shore. Pitzer said he helped a man who was farther from the crashed aircraft and who appeared to be having a difficult time swimming.
They said they saw the man treading water at first, but he did not seem to be a strong swimmer. The other crash victim, who was closer to the aircraft, was able to swim to shore, and Daniels helped him get on the rocks.
Once he was there, Daniels helped Pitzer get the other man onto the rocks. That man was unconscious, so the campers started performing CPR, which was difficult to do on the rocks as the water came in.
"We were doing CPR, but we weren't getting much oxygen into him," Pitzer said.
Soon, rescuers arrived and continued to perform CPR before a basket was lowered down the cliff and the crash victim was brought up to the roadway. Steve Swindle, a county fire spokesman, said CPR was being performed because the man was in cardiac arrest.
When talking to one of the fliers, Pitzer said he learned that both men had control of piloting the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration was notified of the incident and was investigating along with the National Transportation Safety Board.
Crews from Naval Base Ventura County and the Ventura County and Oxnard fire departments responded to the scene. Many of those same crews responded to a nearby head-on collision between and SUV and Mercedes that killed three people just a few days earlier.
The aircraft crash near Mugu Rock wasn't the first incident of the day involving an ultralight.
Hours earlier, firefighters responded to an ultralight that made a hard landing about 12:30 p.m. in the Santa Clara River bottom near Vineyard and Los Angeles avenues, authorities said.
There was no medical aid needed in that incident near Saticoy and the owner of the aircraft planned to retrieve it, authorities said.
======================= Man Killed, Another Man Injured After Ultralight Aircraft Crashes Into Ocean Near Point Mugu
Mariel Turner and Nisha Gutierrez-Jaime,
Updated at 02:25PM, July 9, 2017
One man died, and another man was injured, Saturday evening when an ultralight aircraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu, the Ventura County Fire Department reported.
The aircraft crashed around 5:20 p.m. at Pacific Coast Highway just south of Mugu Rock at Point Mugu. Officials said the men crash landed near the shore, but in the ocean.
One of the men was able to swim to shore, but the other man was rescued by a civilian who saw the crash, Officer Steve Swindle told KTLA.
The civilian began performing CPR on the rescued man until paramedics arrived, officials said.
Both men were transported to a local hospital in unknown condition.
On Sunday the Ventura County Coroner’s Office confirmed one of the men had died Saturday at the hospital.
============================
POINT MUGU, Calif. (KABC) --
One man died and another was injured when a light-sport aircraft crashed near Point Mugu Saturday afternoon.
Ventura County Fire Department officials said the two men were pulled out of the water and onto shore after the aircraft crashed near the rock and Pacific Coast Highway around 5 p.m.
Civilians performed CPR on one of the men, who authorities said suffered a heart attack, until help arrived.
One of the men died, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. The other man was treated for a minor injury.
A Ventura County Fire spokesperson said the aircraft took off from the Camarillo Airport. They were flying with three other aircrafts that were all part of a flying club.
The cause of the crash was under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.
Date: 08-JUL-2017
Time: -17:20
Type: Airplane
Owner/operator:
Registration:
C/n / msn:
Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities: 0
Airplane damage: Substantial
Location: Pacific Ocean off Point Mugu, Ventura County, CA -
United States of America Phase: Unknown
Nature: Unknown
Departure airport: Camarillo (KCMA)
Destination airport:
Narrative:
The aircraft impacted the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Point Mugu Rock southeast of Naval Air Station Point Mugu (KNTD), Ventura County, California. The airplane sustained substantial damage and one of the two occupants onboard was fatally injured. One occupant onboard the aircraft received minor injuries.
Sources:
http://ktla.com/2017/07/08/2-people-injured-after-ultralight-aircraft-crashes-into-ocean-near-point-mugu/
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/state/article160354349.html
http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/ventura/2017/07/08/no-injuries-reported-when-ultralight-aircraft-makes-hard-landing-near-saticoy/462243001/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Point+Mugu,+California+90265/@34.0852924,-119.0590384,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80e84769d60e85e9:0xa58e343f7177e8d3?hl=en-us