The three passengers who were killed when the small plane they were on crashed in Big Bear on Monday have been identified.
The three passengers have been identified as 60-year-old Stormie Seibold of Temecula, 62-year-old Jimmy Fitzpatrick of Perris and 79-year-old Robert Carty of Lake Havasu, Arizona.
Crews arrived on the scene at the corner of Paradise Way and Maltby Boulevard in Big Bear around 2 p.m. on Monday after a crash was reported there.
The single-engine Beechcraft A36 crashed in a small field about one mile east of Big Bear Airport, which, according to preliminary investigation from the NTSB, is thought to be the plane’s destination. No one on the ground was injured.
“There was no fire and no structural damage, which is pretty amazing considering how many houses are in that area,” Battalion Chief Luke Wagner of the Big Bear Fire Department said.
Seibold was the registered owner of the plane.
The NTSB is actively investigating the crash site, air traffic communications, radar data and weather reports, as well as conducting interviews with possible witnesses to determine the cause of the crash.
“We saw it on YouTube but couldn’t get an actual visual account of the wreckage until I saw it up close,” Ryan Goss, the General Manager of Big Bear Airport, said. “It’s a pretty nasty crash.”
Reports indicate that the pilot did put out a distress signal, but according to Goss, it wasn’t heard at Big Bear Airport.
“As far as we know here at the Big Bear Airport, we did not hear or receive any distressed call before the incident occurred,” he said.
The cause of the crash may take weeks or months to figure out.
