The five people who died in a crash after a small plane took off from Catalina Airport in darkness in October had to wait for more than an hour for one engine’s battery to recharge before departing, according to a report released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
Though the report does not offer a cause for the crash, it does offer details as to why the pilot took more than an hour to leave after attempting to bring back a stranded pilot and two student pilots on Oct. 8.
Killed in the crash were the twin-engine plane’s owner, Ali Safai, 73, of West Hills; Haris Ali, 33, of Fullerton; Margeret Mary Fenner, 55, of Pennsylvania; Gonzalo Lubel, 34, residence unclear; and Joeun Park, 37, of North Hills.
The pilot, who has not been officially identified, attempted to take off from the airport about 8 p.m. that night in clear conditions, the report says. The airport, nor the surrounding area southwest of the runway, the direction the pilot took off over, has lights.
The airport operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and allows landings and takeoffs before sunset so long as they’re arranged with the airport’s general manager, Carl True. Night operations are not permitted.
In this case, the pilot was approved to land and take off, so long as the pilot did so before sunset, the report says.
A pilot and two student pilots from a Santa Monica Airport-based flight school, Proteus Aero, became stranded on the island after their airplane experienced a mechanical issue, the report says. In a statement previously released by Proteus Aero, the flight school said Safai was a friend and had offered his twin-engine Beechcraft 95, which he kept at the airport, to help those stranded.
The plane took off from Santa Monica Airport just before 6 p.m. and landed on Catalina at 6:20 p.m., 11 minutes before sunset.
“The pilots shut down both engines, loaded the stranded pilots, and attempted to restart the (Beechcraft’s) engines,” the NTSB report says. “During restart the right engine would not start due to insufficient battery power. The occupants exited the airplane, and an extension cord was then attached to an on-board battery charger.”
They were informed by the airport’s general manager that because the time the battery needed to recharge would extend beyond sunset, they were not approved to depart, but the pilot, who was also identified as the airplane owner in the report indicating Safai was at the controls, “informed the manager that he had to go and intended to depart anyway,” the report says.
The general manager said the departure would be unapproved and at the pilot’s own risk, the report says.
By the time the plane took off, the airport manager was at his home and said he heard what sounded like a normal departure.
Airport security video captured the plane during takeoff on Runway 22 about 8 p.m., but it was not possible to tell if the plane was airborne prior to reaching the end of the runway, the report says. Flight data shows the plane may have been airborne before the runway ended, but then descended after takeoff followed by a right turn until it crashed a half-mile from the runway.
The plane hit the ridgeline with the wings in a horizontal position and the landing gear extended, the report says.
Pilots with experience flying to Catalina said the pilot could have been disoriented in the darkness, with some also pointing to a possible weight issue on board.
Safai owned Santa Monica Aviation, another flight school at the Santa Monica Airport, until shutting it down in 2018.
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