Federal safety officials conducted more interviews this week in an on-going investigation of the crash of a small experimental airplane in Santa Paula that killed the two people on board, including one man who reportedly lived in Lancaster.
The single-engine, home-built Vans RV6A crashed around 2:10 p.m. March 31 in the vicinity of South Mountain Road and 12th Street. The two men on board died at the scene. No one else was injured.
One of the two victims was identified by NBC4 on Sunday as 60-year-old Ted Dopler of Lancaster. The station interviewed his wife, Lori Dopler, who said she was supposed to be on the flight but stayed home at the last minute to take care of her mother. The plane left from a private airfield in Rosamond, less than 30 minutes from the couple’s Lancaster home.
They were on their way to the Santa Paula airport, with Ted Dopler flying and a male passenger was on board who hasn’t been identified, but crashed about 1 1/2 miles away, according to NBC4.
The plane’s federal registration number indicated that it was registered out by a person or company in Palmdale.
Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating the crash.
