Authorities have identified the pilot who died when a small plane slammed into a hillside in Los Angeles’ Beverly Crest neighborhood Saturday evening as Alon Inditzky, 38, of Woodland Hills.
Inditzky was the only occupant of the single-engine Cessna C172 when it crashed near Mulholland Drive around 8 p.m.
The search for the plane was initially slowed by heavy fog. Los Angeles Fire Department crews eventually located the wreckage and the victim near a water tank and several homes around 11:30 p.m.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, Inditzky was flying from Bermuda Dunes in Palm Springs to Camarillo when he made an abrupt decision to land at Van Nuys Airport.
“(The) pilot made that turn towards the airport and then began descending. Radar contact was lost about a minute or so later,” said Eliott Simpson, NTSB’s senior aviation accident investigator.
The wreckage of the Cessna C172 had not been removed from the hillside as of Monday morning. May 1, 2023. (KTLA) 
One person died when a single-engine Cessna crashed near homes in the Beverly Crest area. April 29, 2023. (ANG) 
Los Angeles Fire Department crews are searching for a possible missing aircraft amid heavy fog in Sherman Oaks on April 29, 2023. (Citizen)
There was no mayday signal or signs of distress before the crash, NTSB said. The preliminary investigation is expected to take two weeks.
“They’re looking at things like man, machine and environment,” Robert Katz, a veteran pilot and flight instructor not related to the case, told KTLA Monday. “They’re going to look at this pilot’s qualifications, his recent history … his training. The NTSB will of course look at the aircraft itself, it’s maintenance history, if there were any anomalies or irregularities with it.”
The wreckage had not been removed from the hillside as of Monday morning.
