Pilot In Fatal Yorba Linda Crash Ignored Weather Warnings: NTSB

ORANGE COUNTY, CA —Tragedy in Yorba Linda may have been averted had a pilot heeded warnings, according to a report filed by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The 75-year-old pilot of a small plane that crashed into a Yorba Linda home on Feb. 3, killing him and four people in the house, was cautioned before takeoff by an air traffic controller at Fullerton Airport of "deteriorating weather," a preliminary NTSB report read. This was not the first time Pastini had flown in inclement weather after being warned, Patch has learned.

Antonio Pastini, flying solo in his 1981 twin-engine Cessna 414A, was headed for Minden-Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nevada, that afternoon. The plane took off at 1:39 p.m. and no flight plan was filed, the NTSB reported.

"During the takeoff clearance, the (Fullerton) tower air traffic controller cautioned the pilot regarding deteriorating weather about four miles east" of the airport, according to the agency's preliminary report. "Radar data showed that 5 1/2 minutes after takeoff, the airplane had climbed to an altitude of about 7,800 feet above ground level before it started a rapid descending right turn and subsequently impacted the ground."

The agency reported "precipitation, microburst and rain showers over the accident area" at the time of the plane's breakup about 1:45 p.m.

Witnesses reported seeing the Cessna "exit the clouds at a high rate of descent before parts of the airplane started to break off," according to the NTSB.

The report says one of the witnesses told authorities that he "observed an aircraft emerge from the overcast layer on a northwesterly heading with a nose down pitch of approximately 60 degrees, pointed directly at my location with no discernible movement."

"It remained in that altitude for approximately four to five seconds before initiating a high-speed dive recovery. Approaching the bottom of the recovery the aircraft began to roll to its right," they said.

During the roll, the left horizontal stabilizer departed the aircraft, immediately followed by the remainder of the empennage.

"The left wing then appeared to shear off just outside the number one (left) engine igniting the left wing," the report stated. "After which, the aircraft disappeared behind the hill to the northeast of the observed location, trailing flames behind it. The sound of an explosion and large plume of black smoke immediately followed."

The Cessna's debris scattered throughout the Yorba Linda neighborhood.

In the house, authorities recovered parts of the outboard right wing containing the fuel tank, the NTSB reported. The fuselage, with the right inboard wing attached, was recovered in a backyard, and a left propeller and left engine about 310 feet downhill from the torched house in the 19000 block of Crestknoll Drive.

The people who died in the home, where they had gathered to watch the Super Bowl, were identified as 85-year-old Roy Lee Anderson and his 68-year-old wife Dahlia Marlies Leber Anderson, both of Yorba Linda, 48-year-old Stacie Norene Leber of Corona and 58-year-old Donald Paul Elliott of Norco.

Pastino, a resident of Gardnerville, Nevada, was found with falsified documents claiming he was a retired Chicago area police officer, according to previous reports. He also had twice been disciplined by authorities for unsafe flying, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported that the Federal Aviation Administration suspended his license in 1977 and 1980.

The first suspension -- for 120 days -- came after he flew in cloudy, icy conditions from Las Vegas to Long Beach and lied about his credentials.

The second -- for 30 days -- was because his plane was not up-to-date on inspections, had an expired temporary registration and was leaking brake fluid, according to the newspaper, which cited records kept by the Library of Congress.

Pastini put in name changes with the FAA -- from Jordan Albert Isaacson to Jordan Ike Aaron in 1991 and in 2008 to Antonio Peter Pastini, according to an FAA spokesman.

City News Service assisted with this report.