Park Rangers Locate Missing Palm Springs Plane, No Survivors

A park ranger has located an aircraft reported which was reported overdue on Monday.

He found it around 3 p.m. crashed into a hillside in the Lake Perris State Recreation Area, and there are no survivors, according to a sheriff’s air unit.

Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies said the plane left Palm Springs International Airport around 9:30 a.m. in an Aero Commander and headed west toward Chino for what should have been a 30-minute flight.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s Ian Gregor told News Channel 3 he did not plan to communicate with air traffic controllers during the trip, flying under Visual Flight Rules.

A “ping” on the pilot’s mobile phone indicated he was possibly in the Lake Perris Recreation Area, which borders Moreno Valley and Perris. The location is covered in hills.

Air traffic controllers at March Air Reserve Base reported losing track of the plane at 10:05 a.m. It was not immediately clear whether it dropped off radar or radio communication ceased at that point.

Fire crews were hiking down to the crash site to recover the victim’s remains.

The cause of the crash was under investigation.