Crews Work To Recover Wreckage From Second Aircraft Involved In San Pedro Collision
SAN PEDRO (CBSLA.com) — Recovery efforts were underway Wednesday to remove the wreckage from a small aircraft that was involved in a mid-air collision over the ocean near San Pedro.
According to the Sheriff's Special Enforcement Bureau, authorities located the Citabria plane on Tuesday night with a body inside.
The pilot of the Citabria was identified by her husband as Mary Falstrom, 72, of Torrance.
Officials located the second plane, a Beech 35 Bonanza, around 2 p.m. Sunday with the bodies of the pilot and passenger -- two South Bay-area men believed to be ages 61 and 81 -- about two miles from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The small planes collided shortly after 3 p.m. on Friday.
The coroner's office has not yet released the identities of all three victims. However, one of the men in the Bonanza was identified by friends as Martin Clement, a Catholic church deacon who worked as a financial planner.
Both aircraft were operated out of the Torrance Municipal Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash.
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