A tragic incident occurred on the evening of January 14, 2024, when a Cozy Mark IV, a single-engine light plane that can be assembled from a kit, plunged into the Pacific Ocean near Half Moon Bay, California.
Investigators found the aircraft submerged and upside down in the ocean near Moss Beach. The report of the incident first came around 7:15 p.m., with witnesses near the Moss Beach Distillery observing the plane’s erratic flight before it descended into the ocean.
Melissa Richter, a visitor from Maine, was dining on the patio at the distillery when she witnessed the incident. She described the plane’s engine cutting out, similar to the sounds in a movie scene when a plane is about to crash.
The following afternoon, a commercial fishing boat found the body of a woman in the water near the crash site. The San Mateo County Coroner’s Office later identified her as 27-year-old Emma Willmer-Shiles, a resident of San Francisco.
Four individuals were on board at the time of the crash. Identified among them were the pilot, Australian-born Lochie Ferrier from Oakland, Ferrier’s fiancée of four months Cassidy Petit, Willmer-Shiles from San Francisco, and an unidentified fourth person.
The search operation for survivors, initially conducted by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Coast Guard, was called off mid-Monday morning after a nearly six-hour effort covering a 28-square-mile area.
Parts of the wreckage, including what is believed to be the fuselage, are yet to be recovered due to challenging tide and weather conditions.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) along with other agencies has started an exhaustive investigation into the crash, scrutinizing factors like mechanical failure, structural issues, and weather conditions.
The flight had taken off from an airport in East Bay and made a brief stop at Half Moon Bay Airport before it resumed its journey and met with the disastrous crash.
Registered to Winged Wallabies Inc. in Oakland, the plane had made several trips over the Bay Area.
Ferrier had gained a reputation within the community of people interested in “experimental aircraft.” He was known as a skilled and knowledgeable pilot.
