Small Plane Crash-Lands; Pilot Is OK
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SANTA PAULA — The pilot of a single-engine plane attempting to land at the Santa Paula Airport on Friday afternoon was forced to land in a dry river bottom when his engine suddenly died, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.
Richard Neufeld of Lompoc was circling above the airport preparing to land his Cessna 182 when his engine sputtered and died.
He searched for a safe place to land and managed to guide the plane to a spot on the bottom of the Santa Clara River east of 12th Street, where the plane came to a crashing halt.
Neufeld mowed a path through a grove of nearby trees in an effort to slow the plane down and break the fall, observers said. With tree branches stuck in its wings, his plane smashed to the ground, splitting open the nose and exposing the cockpit.
Neufeld was able to walk away from the scuttled, bent plane with nothing more than a cut lip, Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Kenney said.
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