The fatal pilot involved in a single-engine plane crash west of the Van Nuys Airport, Los Angeles, California, has been identified as a 62-year-old male from Palisades. On Sunday, September 13th, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said that Jim De Varennes was one of the two people killed.
Facts from the accident report disclosed that the second victim was a female passenger. The coroner’s office said the woman remains unnamed pending notification of the next-of-kin.
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According to Nicholas Prange of the Los Angeles Fire Department, the crash happened on Friday afternoon, September 11th, at about 3:04 p.m. in a parking lot in the 6900-block of North Hayvenhurst Avenue.
A witness said that the plane did a steep climb away from the airport and stalled in the air before making a sharp nose dive into the ground. De Varennes and his passenger died at the crash site.
Ian Gregor of the Federal Aviation Administration said that the preliminary investigation revealed that the single-engine Navion B plane took off from the Van Nuys Airport, heading for Santa Ynez Airport in Santa Barbara County. He added that the aircraft caught fire after crashing.
The LAFD put out the fire, and they did not record any injury or building damage from it. However, the crash affected three vehicles in the parking lot. Gregor said that the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are collaborating on the investigation to determine the accident’s cause. There is no additional information.
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