NTSB Investigators En Route to Fatal Plane Crash Site Near Novato

By Bay City News Service:

National Transportation Safety Board officials are expected to arrive Tuesday afternoon to investigate a single-engine plane crash that killed one person west of Novato on Monday night, a Marin County sheriff’s lieutenant said.

The pilot of the single-engine Beachcraft Bonanza aircraft that departed from Brookings, Oregon, radioed the air traffic controllers around 9:30 p.m. to report he was having engine trouble, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The pilot said he would try to make it to Gnoss Field in Novato about seven miles away, but authorities lost contact with the plane when its altitude dropped to 600 feet, Marin County sheriff’s Lt. Doug Pittman said.

The FAA notified the sheriff’s office about the crash around 11 p.m., Pittman said.

Sheriff’s deputies spent three hours searching for the plane, Pittman said.

“It was pitch black, there was heavy fog and we smelled smoke,” Pittman said.

A deputy spotted an orange glow around 3 a.m. north of 900 Hicks Valley Road as deputies drove along roads on a ridge and discovered a fire there, he said.

The blaze had a five-hour head start, Pittman said.

The plane containing the male pilot was located in the area around 4 a.m., he said.

The fire is believed to have started when the plane crashed. It was estimated at 40 acres and was 75 percent contained as of 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Sheriff’s and FAA officials said the pilot was believed to be the only person on board the plane. NTSB officials are expected to arrive from Arizona by 3 p.m. Tuesday to investigate the crash, Pittman said.