The bodies of man and a woman were found early Thursday morning in the wreckage of a small plane that crashed in the mountains near Julian, authorities said. The single-engine Piper Mooney aircraft took off from Palm Springs International Airport on Wednesday evening, en route to Gillespie Field in El Cajon. The plane was lost on radar about 6:15 p.m., San Diego County sheriff's officials said Thursday. / Jay Calderon, The Desert Sun
JULIAN — The bodies of man and a woman were found early Thursday morning in the wreckage of a small plane that crashed in the mountains near Julian, authorities said.
The medical examiner’s office is conducting autopsies and will identify the victims later. The plane was registered to Andrew Thulin, 55, of San Diego.
The single-engine Mooney M20 aircraft took off from Palm Springs International Airport on Wednesday evening, en route to Gillespie Field in El Cajon. The plane was lost on radar about 6:15 p.m., San Diego County sheriff’s officials said Thursday.
Sheriff’s helicopters attempted to search the area Wednesday night, but had to abandon the effort due to sleet, snow and high winds, which made flying unsafe, Sgt. Don Parker said.
Instead, a ground search team found the plane at 12:44 a.m. Thursday by using the pilot’s cell phone number to obtain a “ping.” The aircraft was found in rugged terrain in the area of the Volcan Mountain Wilderness Preserve, about four miles northeast of Julian.
The bodies were recovered about 3:15 p.m., said Jan Caldwell, public information officer for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. A small dog they had with them was not found.
Tom Nolan, executive director of Palm Springs International Airport, said he was contacted by Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration because the radar service detected the aircraft had taken off from the airport.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board were not on the scene, Caldwell said. The government shutdown has caused furloughs in both federal agencies.
Desert Sun reporters Dave Nyczepir and Victoria Pelham, and City News Service contributed.
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