(L.A.) Gonzalo Lubel, 34, Died in a Ravine
Case Number: 2024-15937
Los Angeles County is reporting the death of a 34-year-old male that occurred in a ravine.
The coroner’s office has identified the man as Gonzalo Lubel.
Manner of Death: Accident
Cause of Death: Blunt Trauma
RIP GONZALO LUBEL (July 6, 1990 – October 8, 2024)
Formal pronouncement of death was made on Tuesday at 10:00 p.m.
The decedent was one of five people who died in an aircraft mishap.
The twin-engine Beechcraft 95 crashed as it was attempting to take off shortly after 8 p.m. from Santa Catalina Island’s airport near the city of Avalon.
The airport does not allow flights after sunset because it is not equipped for nighttime operations. The airport manager previously said that while the pilot was not given clearance, the takeoff was not considered illegal.
The plane first landed at the Catalina Island airport at 6:20 p.m. to pick up a flight instructor and two student pilots who were stranded after their rented aircraft malfunctioned.
The airport manager told the pilot he had to depart by sundown at 6:31 p.m. As the pilot attempted to take off with his new passengers, the plane’s right engine wouldn’t start due to insufficient battery power, so they had to exit and connect the engine to a charger.
The airport manager informed the pilot that since the charging time would push the departure time past sunset, they would not be approved for takeoff. The pilot said he needed to depart anyway.
Airport security footage shows the plane taking off during “dark night conditions” in which it was not possible to tell if the plane was airborne or not before reaching the end of the runway.
The plane crashed with its landing gear extended into a ridgeline about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) southwest from the end of the runway. The main wreckage ended in a ravine about 450 feet (137 meters) west of the initial impact point.
The plane was registered under Ali Safai, 73, of Los Angeles, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. He was a former flight instructor and founder of a flight school that closed in 2018.
He died in the crash alongside Gonzalo Lubel, 34; Haris Ali, 33; Joeun Park, 37; and Margaret Mary Fenner, 55.
The airfield is known as the Airport in the Sky because of its precarious location at an elevation of 1,602 feet (488 meters) on the island about 25 miles (40 kilometers) off the coast of Los Angeles. It is known to be difficult to land at and take off from and has been the site of previous crashes.
The airport has a single 3,000-foot (914-meter) runway that is not equipped with runway lighting.