Palisadian Pilot Walks Away from Plane Wreck

By MATTHEW MEYER | Reporter

After an emergency locator beacon alerted authorities to a crashed plane near Borrego Valley Airport last month, a search unit successfully spotted the downed aircraft in nearby Anza-Borrego Desert State Park—but when a San Diego Sheriff Department helicopter reached the site, there was no pilot or passenger to be found.

Initially befuddled, sheriff investigators eventually tracked down the pilot at his home in Pacific Palisades, where he told them that he and his brother-in-law had walked away from the incident unscathed.

The plane, a single-engine, light-sport aircraft called the CubCrafters CC11-160, has been registered to Palisadian David S. Segel since 2014 according to the FAA’s online registry.

Though the agency confirmed that the accident involved this aircraft, they do not officially release the identities of people involved as a matter of policy.

FAA spokesperson Ian Gregor told the Palisadian-Post that the plane had successfully landed in the desert about nine miles north of Borrego Valley Airport on Saturday, March 18, but crashed after trying to take off once again.

The plane’s intended destination was Palm Springs.

Gregor said that there is no regulation requiring a pilot to report accidents to the FAA, though they may be obligated to inform the National Transportation Safety Board depending on the nature of the incident.

NTSB officials told the Post on Monday that they had no record of the accident—indicating damage to the Palisadian aircraft was likely relatively minor.