Local News in Brief : 6th Victim Identified in Van Nuys Air Crash
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The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has identified the sixth victim of Saturday’s crash of a Cessna 320 in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area as Harvey Lewis Victor, 63, of Woodland Hills.
Victor and five others were killed when the plane veered out of control and crashed at 5:30 p.m. while approaching the Van Nuys Airport, according to National Transportation and Safety Board investigator Audrey Schutte.
The Cessna, piloted by Dr. Stanley Z. Daniels, 56, of Granada Hills, a medical examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration, was one of two planes that crashed within two hours while attempting to land at the airport.
The other aircraft, a Socata TB20 Trinidad flown by former soap opera actor John Gibson, barely skimmed automobile traffic on Roscoe Boulevard before flipping over in the air, crashing into the curb and exploding in flames about 200 yards short of the runway. Gibson, 37, who was alone in the single-engine plane, died instantly.
The other passengers in the Cessna were identified as Donald Stern, 55, of Granada Hills; Bertran Stern, 47, of Mountain View; Donald Scott Swanger, 39, of Chatsworth, and his daughter, Nicole, 14, also of Chatsworth.
The NTSB is investigating both crashes.
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