EL CAJON, Calif. — The National Transportation Safety Board released an accident preliminary report about the plane that crashed on December 27, 2021 in an East San Diego neighborhood, killing two pilots and two nurses on board.
The report confirmed that the plane had flown from Lake Havasu, Arizona, to John Wayne / Orange County Airport for a patient transfer earlier in the day. They then left Orange County to head back to their home base at Gillespie Field in El Cajon, California.
Based on the data transmitted from the plane, the report gave more detailed information regarding the specific flight path the plane took that evening before crashing at 7:14 p.m. At 7:12 p.m. the pilot requested to change from landing on runway 17 to runway 27. The controller asked the pilot if they wanted to cancel their IFR flight plan, to which the pilot replied, “yes sir.” The controller acknowledged the change and instructed the pilot to overly the field and cleared them to land on runway 27R. The last recorded signal was at 7:14:09.
The accident preliminary report also included a detailed examination of the accident site. It revealed that the airplane struck a set of power lines and subsequently impacted the yard of a residential home about 1.43 nautical miles east of the approach end of runway 27R.
The first victim was identified as a nurse and the wife of a recently retired local fire chief in an Instagram post by The Oceanside Firefighters Association. The second victim was identified as a nurse in a post by the International Association of EMTs and Paramedics. The two pilots were also identified by the San Diego Medical Examiner's office as Julian Jorge Bugaj and Doug Grande.
Deputies from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's Santee and Lakeside stations immediately responded to the scene along with the Lakeside Fire Protection District, the California Highway Patrol and the El Cajon Police Department.
One home was damaged, but no injuries were reported on the ground, officials said.
San Diego Gas & Electric reported outages affecting as many as 2,500 customers in the El Cajon area following the crash.
The American Red Cross provided assistance to residents who remain affected by the power outage, according to sheriff's officials.
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