Saw this in the morning paper. Sad.

It only occurred 45 minutes from where I live in Carmel,  CA

Ralph Love
N122PT
Lancair Legacy
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Atherton attorney killed in Watsonville plane crash

By J.M. Brown
jbrown@santacruzsentinel.com
Posted: 11/21/2009 03:04:35 PM PST
Updated: 11/21/2009 10:12:00 PM PST

WATSONVILLE - An Atherton attorney died Saturday after his single-engine plane crashed into an apple orchard off Freedom Boulevard near Corralitos Creek.

The plane was on approach to Watsonville Municipal Airport at 5,000 feet when the pilot declared an emergency at 1:25 p.m., stating his engine was on fire, authorities said. The pilot told air traffic controllers in Oakland he would try to land at the Watsonville airport, but that was his final transmission.

Authorities, who initially described the plane as experimental, declined to identify the pilot, who was believed to be the only person on board. But David Lampert said his brother Gary Lampert, 58, an attorney from Atherton, perished in the crash.

Lampert said Santa Cruz County coroner's officials confirmed the death over the phone by checking identifying information found in his brother's wallet.

"We're all gathering here trying to comfort each other," Lampert said in a phone interview from his parents' home in San Mateo County.

Lampert said his brother is also survived by a 19-year-old son.

Lampert said his brother's plane, which contained a Continental engine, was not really an experimental aircraft. His brother simply had the fixed-wing single-engine plane assembled in 2003 by someone other than the parts maker.

The plane was registered to a home Gary Lampert owned on the southern shore of Lake Tahoe. The crash was especially shocking for the family
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because the pilot had been flying for 20 years.

"He was an instrument pilot with thousands of hours, and in helicopters as well," David Lampert said.

The brother said he heard about the crash on the radio about 3:30 p.m., and based on the description of the plane, wondered if it might be his brother who went down.

"I had been trying to reach him all day," he said. "I couldn't believe it could be him."

The pilot was returning from a trip to Arizona to visit an uncle, David Lampert said. The family had expected him to return to the Bay Area Saturday night.

After the pilot's distress call Saturday, Watsonville airport closed to all other traffic, expecting to receive the hobbled aircraft. Simultaneously, Cal Fire positioned crews at the airport and sent a helicopter up to look for the plane, Sheriff's Sgt. Fred Plageman said.

"Unfortunately, he never made it," Plageman said.

At 1:40 p.m., a resident on the 500 block of Monte Sereno Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains called dispatchers to report a plane was smoking and going down.

Mark Pista, who owns the 100-acre property at 2276 Freedom Boulevard, was outside reading when he heard a loud crash on the far end of the orchard. He assumed there had been a car accident until his cousin, who lives on the other side of the property, called to say he believed a plane was down.

Pista and his wife, Carol, walked out into the orchard, calling 911 from their cell phones. Minutes later, they found the crash site about 50 yards from Corralitos Creek. After seeing the pilot's shoes, the two called out to the man, but there was no answer - only the sound of sirens approaching.

"It was so sad to go down there and see someone," Carol Pista said. "I felt so awful. It's just so tragic."

The couple said the plane landed on a trellis surrounding a grove of young apple trees. They said it looked like the plane clipped another tree before hitting the ground. They said there was no easily visible sign of fire damage.

"The ground doesn't look that scored (but) the plane is just completely destroyed," Mark Pista, a former Navy pilot, said in astonishment. "I swear to God there was nothing left of it."

"To look at that plane as destroyed as it was, it looks like it should have tumbled 100 yards," Pista continued. "The trellis stopped him from going further."

Plageman said the county coroner will join an investigation to be led by the FAA and National Transportation and Safety Board. None of the authorities said an exact cause could be determined immediately.

"I'm certain the pilot took responsible measures to ditch in a non-populated area," Plageman said. "It's a really unfortunate set of events. We were hoping he ditched or survived."