By Lisa M. Krieger lkrieger@mercurynews.com
Posted:
12/20/2015 09:47:33 PM PST
0 Comments | Updated: about 6 hours ago
BAKERSFIELD
-- A Gilroy family, flying out of San Jose, died Saturday afternoon
when their small private plane crashed into a Bakersfield almond
orchard, killing both parents and three children.
Aviation and local authorities did not officially identify the
victims, but a grieving family friend told this newspaper they were
Jason and Olga Price, two daughters and a son. The Prices were flying
from San Jose's Reid-Hillview Airport to Henderson Executive Airport in a
Las Vegas suburb, where they were to visit friends in Las Vegas,
according to a family friend.
"They were a wonderful family and dear close friends. They were
loved by many," said friend Rich Whites,who was looking forward to a
visit from the Price family upon their return from Nevada.
Radar shows that the plane was flying in excess of 250 miles per
hour -- extremely fast, even for the high-performance Piper PA32 Turbo
Lance aircraft -- as Price called in his first panicked Mayday to the
Federal Aviation Administration.
An FAA website suggests that they turned immediately toward
Bakersfield Airport upon sensing trouble. The plane missed FAA
locational "vectors" while descending, suggesting they had gone far off
their intended course.
The plane descended quickly from 15,000 feet and Price apparently
lost control of the aircraft during its steep descent. A second Mayday,
with an audible alarm, was called moments after the first.
Debris was scattered for one-quarter of a mile, according to Lt. Bill Smallwood of the Kern County Sheriffs Department.
On Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration was looking for what caused the crash.The
National Weather Service reported rain and clouds in the area when the
plane went off radar. Earlier in the day, aviation authorities warned of
icing above 5,000 feet.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Jason
Price was an engineer at Genesis Solutions in Gilroy. On her Facebook
page -- where there was a full-color photograph of the five family
members -- Olga Price indicated she once attended the Blackford High
School in San Jose. Jason led teams and served as a machinery technician
in the U.S. Coast Guard in the late 1990s as a machinery technician and
also offered disaster and humanitarian relief as a pilot with the Civil
Air Patrol.
Bakersfield pilot Brad Pinnell called the weather
"marginal, but flyable." Price had just filed Instrument Flight Rules
because of poor visibility and precipitation.
"The two most likely culprits would be tail icing or a structural failure," Pinnell said.
"There
were conditions for icing present earlier in the day at the level they
were at, it could be suspected," said Pinnell, who canceled a flight to
San Luis Obispo earlier in the day due to the weather.
The plane is a seven-seat high-performance 1978 fixed wing single engine, using a reciprocating engine.
The
owner of the plane, according to FAA records, is RAD Aviation LLC of
San Jose. A woman who answered a number listed for that address would
only say that her husband used to be part owner of the plane but sold
his share.