14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Wednesday, January 02, 2013 in Oceano, CA
Aircraft: LUSCOMBE 8A, registration: N45923
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On January 2, 2013, about 1605 pacific standard time, a Luscombe 8A, N45923, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain about 2 miles south of the Oceano County Airport (L52), Oceano, California. The commercial pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 local personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The flight originated from L52 at an unknown time.
Witnesses reported that the airplane was circling and maneuvering at a low altitude around the beach area when they observed it ascend abruptly. Approximately 150-200 feet above the ground, the airplane appeared to stop, make a sharp turn and descend at an approximately 55 degree angle. The airplane appeared to start to level off when it impacted the top of a sand dune. Witnesses observed the airplane bounce before it went out of sight.
The airframe and engine have been moved to a secure location for further examination.
Glen Ray
Glen Ray
Oceano Dunes plane crash victim remembered for 'heart of gold'
The man who died in the Oceano Dunes while flying his single-engine vintage aircraft was “a consummate pilot” with “one of the biggest hearts you’d ever want to meet,” several friends said Thursday.
Glen Philip Ray, 56, died Wednesday following the 4:05 p.m. crash. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office released his name Thursday, and said he died as a result of sharp force trauma injuries.
Ray, a Grover Beach resident, was the registered owner of the 1946 single-engine, two-seat Luscombe 8A that he was piloting on Wednesday afternoon. It’s still unknown from which airport Ray had departed and where he was headed.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, with the NTSB taking the lead on the investigation. Further information about the cause is not expected until mid-January.
But one thing is clear — Ray loved to fly. He was the registered owner of two aircraft, the Luscombe and a 1939 single-engine Monocoupe 90A, according to an FAA registry.
Most of the photos on his Facebook page are of planes. During his life, friends said, he flew commercial cargo planes, restored planes and took side jobs working on all types of aircraft. And he flew daily, said friend Teri Bayus, who met Ray in 1998 when she owned a mailing and shipping business on Price Street.
“I know the plane he crashed he had been working on a long time,” she said.
Bayus and friend Frank Lindsay remembered Ray’s wonderful sense of humor, his “heart of gold,” and his love of bikes and beach volleyball.
For years, Ray shied away from owning a car, preferring to get around instead by bike.
For about 10 years, Ray lived on the Price Historical Park property, taking care of the grounds and ensuring that transients or curious teenagers didn’t damage the property, said Lindsay, former president of Friends of Price House.
At the same time, Ray helped homeless people living in Price Canyon fix their bikes, and in exchange they agreed to help keep an eye on the property, Lindsay said.
“We even had a Thanksgiving dinner out there for the homeless one year,” Lindsay said. “He was an amazing person who embraced everyone as being equal.”
Ray’s friends said he once worked for NASA, as a hydraulics engineer on the Space Shuttle Challenger project in the 1980s. A NASA spokesman said the agency doesn’t have readily available records to verify Ray’s work history.
Lindsay said Ray also served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Ray’s Facebook profile describes him as an “aerospace engineer, aerospace technologist, commercial heavy multiengine pilot, human power advocate, beach volleyball fanatic, luscombe lunatic, blue water sloop racing, and lover of life.”
“He was a Renaissance man,” Bayus said.
More recently, Ray had gone to the Santa Rosa area to care for his father, who was ill. He returned to San Luis Obispo County after his father died.
Ray is survived by a son, who lives in Northern California. Friends are planning to hold a service locally within the next week or two.
In the meantime, the NTSB will continue its work, with air safety investigator Howard Plagens studying the accident scene. Plagens will secure the scene, preserve any perishable evidence, collect all electronic devices and visually document the crash scene, said Eric Weiss, a NTSB spokesman.
A preliminary report will be filed 10 business days after the accident on the NTSB website but determining the likely cause of the plane crash could take more than a year, he said.
After the initial report is complete, a more extensive examination is done on the “man, the machine and the environment,” Weiss said. At the end, a clear picture of what exactly happened from when the flight took off to when it ended will emerge.
Though it’s still unknown where Ray planned to land, the aircraft was pointing toward the Oceano County Airport, said Craig Angello, whose family owns Angello’s ATV Rentals.
Angello is also a captain with the Five Cities Fire Authority but was not on duty when he heard information about the crash on a police scanner.
He responded to see if he could help. By the time he arrived, state parks rangers were on scene and performing CPR, he said. Firefighters with the Five Cities Fire Authority also responded.
Angello walked around the plane to make sure it wasn’t a fire hazard. He noticed the battery was located about 50 to 60 feet from the wreckage. The aircraft itself “was completely destroyed, folded in half essentially,” he said.
Story and Photos: http://www.sanluisobispo.com
Friends remember Grover Beach man killed in plane crash at Oceano Dunes
"We are desperately looking for the details from the FAA and the examiner so that we can piece together what happened because it is such a tragic loss for us all," said Jolie Lucas, cofounder of Friends of Oceano Airport.
The Central Coast aviation community mourns the loss of Glen Philip Ray, 56, who was killed Wednesday in a plane crash on the Oceano Dunes.
"He just loved flying that airplane," said Lucas, who was describing Ray's Luscombe 8A, a two-seater vintage tail dragger.
"He was at Oceano a lot at Lompoc and Santa Maria. Just having good fun," said Lucas.
He soared above the Central Coast a few times per week and friends said his talent and passion were sky-high.
"He was an exquisite mechanic, a very skilled pilot. He had a great sense of humanity and wonderful sense of humor," said Lucas.
Lucas said Ray was father and a brother.
"What comes to mind is the ear to ear smile. A lover of life. Loved to help you and would do anything for you," said Lucas.
Friends and family are left with many unanswered questions about the crash, but there is no question about his legacy.
"Glen would tell us to remember him with a smile on our face and to keep flying and loving aviation. And we didn't want to lose him, but he went out doing what he loves to do and that's flying that plane," said Lucas.
People headed to Pismo Beach Thursday afternoon to pay their respects to Ray.
Two investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were at the Oceano Dunes Thursday trying to figure out what caused the deadly crash, but no information has been released.
Ray was the only person onboard the aircraft when it went down.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office said he died as a result of sharp force trauma injuries.
Story and Video: http://www.ksby.com
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 45923 Make/Model: L8 Description: 8, T8, 50, MASTER, SILVAIRE, OBSERVER
Date: 01/03/2013 Time: 0004
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
City: OCEANO State: CA Country: US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE 1 PERSON ON BOARD WAS
FATALLY INJURED, NEAR OCEANO, CA
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 1
# Crew: 1 Fat: 1 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: SAN JOSE, CA (WP15) Entry date: 01/03/2013
http://registry.faa.gov/N45923
http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N45923
http://www.parks.ca.gov
A single engine two seat plane went down just after 4 p.m. Wednesday on the
Oceano Dunes State Park south of Pismo Beach. Local Authorities confirm that the pilot was the only person on board, and he died on scene. The pilot's identity is not being released at this time.
CAL Fire, San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Department, the CHP and State Parks all responded. The plane was a single engine, Luscombe 8a - a two-seat high-wing plane designed in 1937.
Officer Tony Cippola of the San Luis Obispo Sheriffs Dept tells us the pilot did not die on impact. CPR was administered but was not successful.
Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, is a park in SLO County where dune buggies and motorcycles are ridden on the beach. The crash site was more than a mile inland from the beach with limited access-- it's in an area where recreational activity is not permitted
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating
Story, photo, reaction/comments: http://www.ksby.com
Story and reaction/comments: http://www.sanluisobispo.com
UPDATE 5:20 p.m.: The plane that crashed at the Oceano Dunes is a single-engine vintage Luscombe 8A, according Ian Gregor, FAA spokesman for the Pacific Division.
The pilot, the only person on board, died in the crash. His identity has not yet been released.
The plane crashed for unknown reasons into the sand dunes east of post 14 around 4 p.m.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident, with the NTSB acting as the lead investigative agency. Determining a cause for the accident could take months, Gregor said.
Original story: One person was killed after a two-seater aircraft crashed in the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area this afternoon.
A Cal Fire official confirmed that one person has died in the crash, which was reported about 4:10 p.m. No one else was in the aircraft when it went down near post 14.
The plane is leaking some fuel, and county environmental health officials are also responding to the scene.
