A small plane crashed in an intersection after departing Van Nuys Airport Friday afternoon, killing the aircraft’s pilot.
The plane went down at Hayvenhurst Avenue and Vanowen Street (map), just south of the small airport in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley.
A small plane crashed in Van Nuys on Jan. 9, 2015. (Credit: KTLA)
The Los Angeles Fire Department was called to the scene at 1:14 p.m., and the one occupant on board was determined to be dead, according to the department’s Erik Scott.
The pilot was identified as 47-year-old Alberto Enrique Behar of Scottsdale, Arizona, Lt. R. Hays with Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said.
Behar was a professor at Arizona State University as well as a member of the Mobility and Robotic Systems Section at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, according to his online biography.
The plan did not collide with any vehicles, structures or people on the ground, authorities said.
“It could have been a lot worse,” police Sgt. Barry Montgomery said. “The citizens in this area really were fortunate that it wasn’t a more tragic incident.”
The fixed-wing aircraft was down in the middle of the intersection, and firefighters appeared to have placed a sheet over a body, aerial video from Sky5 showed. The aircraft’s cockpit was destroyed
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