A plane crash near San Diego had claimed the lives of two pilots and two nurses right after they transported an Arizona patient to Orange County Tuesday.
The identities of the deceased are being determined although one of the nurses aboard the doomed flight was said to be the wife of former Oceanside Fire Chief Joe Ward, Tina ward.
“It is with heavy hearts that the Oceanside Fire Department and their fire family would like to extend our deepest condolences to our recently retired Chief Ward, his family, and all family and friends of the Aeromedevac flight crew N880z,” the Oceanside Firefighters Association said.
The pilot of the doomed Learjet 35A had moments before the crash asked a tower controller to turn runway lights brighter, then requested a visual approach of another runway.
Residents of the Bostonia area of El Cajon reported spotting the plane in trouble before the disaster.
“It was super foggy. It was raining, it was raining really bad when he went down,” one said.
“It is possible that this pilot found himself back in the clouds, very low to the ground, in a steep turn and became instantly disoriented,” Flight Instructor Robert Katz suggested.
He also cited the possibility of “an accelerated stall”, when the pilot turns too abruptly for the runway: “The airplane will stop flying and it falls out of the sky like a rock.”
