A tragic aviation accident off the Southern California coast, near Catalina Island, resulted in the deaths of all five individuals aboard the aircraft. The plane involved was a twin-engine Beechcraft 95, which carried four passengers and a pilot. The crash happened Tuesday evening, October 8, 2024, shortly after takeoff from Catalina Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported the crash took place around 8 p.m., approximately one mile from the airport.
The authorities have identified four of the five victims: Ali Reza Safai, 73, the pilot and registered owner of the plane; Haris Ali, 33; Margaret Mary Fenner, 55; and Gonzalo Lubel, 34. The identification process for the fifth victim, a man in his 30s, is ongoing as authorities continue to notify family members.
The ill-fated aircraft started its journey from Santa Monica Airport, California at 5:57 p.m., arriving at Catalina around 6:20 p.m. Records indicate that the plane began its return trip, but radar contact was lost soon after departure.
Rescue crews arrived at the crash site around 8:30 p.m. in response to an emergency SOS notification from a cell phone belonging to one of the passengers. The crash site was about a mile west of the island’s airport.
The pilot, Ali Reza Safai, was also a flight instructor at Proteus Flight School in Santa Monica, California. According to KTLA sources, Safai had made the trip to assist two stranded Proteus Flight School pilots on the island due to mechanical issues.
An airport official reported that the pilot did not receive permission for takeoff. The airport closes its operations each day at 5 p.m., but pilots have the option to coordinate with management for arrivals and departures before sunset, according to the airport’s general manager, Carl True, in an interview with the Orange County Register on Thursday. True mentioned that the pilot had scheduled the arrival but not the takeoff, and he was advised of this. The airport prohibits flights after dark since it lacks the necessary facilities for nighttime activity. True stated that although the pilot did not receive permission, the departure was not deemed unlawful.
The airstrip is referred to as the Airport in the Sky due to its risky position at a height of 1,602 feet on the island, which lies approximately 25 miles away from Los Angeles. It features one runway measuring 3,000 feet in length.
Over the years, Catalina has seen a series of major aviation accidents. In 2002, a plane collision with a hillside on the island resulted in five fatalities. The officials cited low visibility, light rain, and mist as factors causing the pilot to miss the runway at Catalina’s Airport in the Sky during the initial landing attempt.
In 2008, a sightseeing helicopter crash near Two Harbors resulted in three deaths and three injuries, two of which were critical. The following year, another crash during rainy conditions took the lives of three more individuals on a tour airplane.
